I had occasion a few nights ago to speak to a gentleman in the House of Commons with regard to an application to the Fishery Board for 2000L.

to restore the pier at Buffin, in Clew Bay, and I said, 'Will you join me in the application?
I am told it is a place that swarms with fish, and if we had a pier there the fishermen will have some security, and they will go out.' The only answer I received was, 'They will not go out; they pay no attention whatever to the fisheries; they allow the fish to come and go without making any effort to catch them....'" Mr.Ayrton--"Do you think that if English fishermen went to the west coast of Ireland they would be able to get on in harmony with the native fishermen ?" Mr.Ennis--"We know the fact to be, that some years ago, a company was established for the purpose of trawling in Galway Bay, and what was the consequence?
The Irish fishermen, who inhabit a region in the neighbourhood of Galway, called Claddagh, turned out against them, and would not allow them to trawl, and the Englishmen very properly went away with their lives." Sir Rowland Hill--"Then they will neither fish themselves nor allow any one else to fish!" Mr.Ennis--"It seems to be so."-- Minutes of Evidence, 175-6.
[13] The Derry Journal.
[14] Report of Inspectors of Irish Fisheries for 1882.
[15] The Report of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland for 1882, gives a large amount of information as to the fish which swarm round the Irish coast.

Mr.Brady reports on the abundance of herring and other fish all round the coast.
Shoals of herrings "remained off nearly the entire coast of Ireland from August till December." "Large shoals of pilchards" were observed on the south and south-west coasts.

Off Dingle, it is remarked, "the supply of all kinds of fish is practically inexhaustible." "Immense shoals of herrings off Liscannor and Loop Head;" "the mackerel is always on this coast, and can be captured at any time of the year, weather permitting." At Belmullet, "the shoals of fish off the coast, particularly herring and mackerel, are sometimes enormous." The fishermen, though poor, are all very orderly and well conducted.
They only want energy and industry.
[16] The Harleian Miscellany, iii.

378-91.
[17] The Harleian Miscellany, iii.