An historic craft; a Yorkshire five-man boat on the beach near Whitby, from a contemporary sketch by George Weatherill. These 3-masted boats were the largest and fastest craft in the British Isles, but died out during the 1850's.

INTRODUCTION

The Yorkshire and North-East coast is home to one of the most well known types of fishing craft, and one of Old Englands most ancient and historic boats, the coble, by which is usually meant the high-prowed, flat-bottomed and square-sterned craft, so beautifully adapted for launching and landing at the beaches adjacent to the ancient fishing hamlets of the coast. Even today, in places such as Flamborough, Filey, Skinningrove and Saltburn, they can still be seen in their relatively unchanged, but now motorised, form, and yet still being launched, as they were originally created so to do, from the open beach.

However, research shows that the term ‘coble’, in referring to craft of the Yorkshire coast, was far more generic and inclusive in past centuries, and referenced a number of craft. Even the largest fishing boat of the coast, the Five-Man Boat, some of which exceeded 60 feet in length and a tonnage of 64 [O.M.], were also referred to in contemporary material as ‘coble lugger’ or also simply as ‘coble’, while the term ‘big coble’ has been used to refer to any one of three distinct craft. In researching the craft and fishing history of the district therefore, it can never be assumed that the smaller, flat-bottomed and square-sterned craft is always the one that is being referred to in earlier references when the term “coble” is used, and references must therefore be evaluated carefully; similarly, the term ‘mule’ has also been applied to two distinct types of  ‘coble’ craft.

A typical Yorkshire Yawl. Note the section of bulwark removed for launching the coble, which is being towed aft, stern first, the deep forefoot acting as a keel.

With the exception of the small Sailing Coble, none of the other sailing fishing craft of Yorkshire have ever been thoroughly described in print, and reference material is constantly being sought for the Archive, by which to gain greater detail of all these extinct Yorkshire sailing craft.

SAILING FISHING CRAFT USED ON THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Twelve historic types of craft from the days of sail may be defined from early references, paintings and photographs as relevant to the Yorkshire coast and its fisheries, together with their synonymy that has been encountered in contemporary references :-

1.] The Five-man boat; Coble Lugger; Coble; 5-Man Coble; Three-masted lugger.

2.] The Scarborough Yawl; Yorkshire Yawl.

3.] The Plosher; Big Coble

4.] The Sailing coble; 3-Man coble.

5.] The Mule coble; Double-ended coble

6.] The Herring coble; Big coble; Mule; Herring Mule.

7.] The Corfe, Calf

8.]  The early Cutter-rigged Smack or Long-boomer

9.]  The Cutter-rigged Yawl, an early type of Scarborough trawler.

10.] The ketch-rigged Smack or Dandy, including lengthened Long-boomers.

11.] The Iron Smack, the ‘Contrast’, SH 221, of 1862

12.] The Keel-boat

The works of Edgar J March are the most well-known and most consulted by those wishing to know more about bygone British sailing fishing craft, including the great variety of off-shore sailing drifters and long-liners, the smacks or trawlers, and the numerous smaller inshore craft.

The researcher will find however, that March had little detailed material to go on with regard to Yorkshire craft, other than the sailing coble, and the others are dealt with rather summarily or not at all.

His description of the largest, the Five-Man Boat, is based on the damaged and restored model, found in Scarborough in Edwardian times, and now in the Science Museum, London. Material relating to these long-gone craft is rare, and subsequent writers of historic craft desirous of mentioning these craft have all drawn on the singular description of this incomplete model, by March in his volume on “Sailing Drifters”.

The few details he gives of the Yorkshire Yawls are culled from the Washington Enquiry published in 1849, and although he stated his intention to give a fuller description of these craft in a later work, further data on these vessels eluded him.

Similar descriptions of the Herring Coble and its inboard companion, the Corfe, the most misunderstood boat of the coast, are also brief.

Fishermen of this North Sea coast-line had traditionally used many types of static gear, including Brat-nets, crab and lobster pots, and various types of long-line, all of which daily cluttered the sea-bed. This coastline was also a major centre for the herring fisheries, and every summer the fleets assembled, and each evening for months on end, spread a large volume of herring drift-nets over the grounds. As a consequence there had been no employment or development of the conflicting drag method of fishing using the trawl, which was present on the coast only in a small version, fished close-in by cobles for the capture of shrimps etc. Not surprisingly, there was eventual conflict with the visiting Devonshire trawlermen, when the local fishermen realised the visitors were becoming too frequent, and spending a little too much time on the local grounds with their more aggressive and conflicting type of fishing gear.

However, as the method of trawling began to be accepted as a means of capturing whitefish on these grounds, the working of the trawling gear as practiced by the North Sea men in ports such as Scarborough, began to alter not just the method of working the trawl from that which the Devonshire men had always used, but also led in turn to alterations in the layout of the trawler.

From the 1840’s to the early 1880’s, by which time the sailing trawlers were already being eclipsed by the introduction of the steam-trawler, the development of the North Sea sailing smack and the trawl proceeded at a rapid pace, the vessels converting from cutter to ketch; these years also witnessed the introduction of the first iron-hulled fishing vessel, the Contrast, SH 221, an historic and battered portrait of which, depicting her arrival at Scarborough in 1863 for owner Josiah Hudson, is preserved in the Archive.

In describing trawling vessels in his Sailing Trawlers, March does however give good account of the build and rig of the early Cutter-rigged Smacks that ventured to both Irish and Yorkshire waters in the early decades of the 19^th century, and in addition a little of the subsequent changes and evolution of the sailing trawler.

There remains, however, much to be discovered about Yorkshire’s sailing fishing craft, and about the evolution of both craft and gear generally, participating in the Yorkshire fisheries.

D. E. Whittaker

When this very early view of Scarborough harbour was made, the fishing industry was booming and numerous yawls were being built within the harbour. The photograph shows early double-ended yawls as well as those with lute sterns.

Prior to 1830, three types of multi purpose fishing craft dominated the Yorkshire fisheries. All were used in the pursuit of the seasonal herring fisheries, but only the fully-decked, Five-Man Coble or 3-Masted Lugger, was capable of long-distance working, of being able to stay out in all weathers, and of having the capacity, during this fishery, of working the greatest number of drift-nets and of retaining a catch of several lasts of herring.

Nationally, the herring industry had been increasing in catching and processing intensity since the close of the Napoleonic wars, with progressive substantial investment in fishing craft. On the Yorkshire coast, the Five-Man Cobles required massive investment, and by the close of the 1820’s, the principle builder of these craft, Robert Skelton of Scarborough, took the speculative decision to build a cheaper, smaller vessel with two masts, double-ended without the favoured lute stern of the larger craft, but still capable of handling a sizable catch. Built on speculation, the first vessel, which he called a yawl, is identifiable to 1830, and was purchased by Filey owners.

Despite forty years of recent collecting and research for the Archive, no images or early models of the very first yawls have so far been found, and their exact appearance, until such evidence is found, is therefore unknown, but they were

An early photo of lug-rigged yawls in Scarborough harbour. Such images of the yawls rigged in this way are rare due to the change over to gaff-rig in 1870, but are essential in working out how the vessels were rigged.

evidently very lightly constructed, and were probably entirely open. Their registered tonnage of only about 17 tons [old measurement] shows how much larger these early experimental craft were than the contemporary herring cobles of 8-12 tons [O.M.], but further illustrates how small they were when compared to the three-masted luggers of 45-60  tons [O.M.], that they would ultimately displace, and how unlike the later yawls, well known from later photographs and the sketches of the artists working the coast in late Victorian times.

The early Yawls quickly evolved to be partially decked, and then as the size further increased, finally became fully decked. Photographs of the yawls at this stage of their development are known, but are rare, and more need to be discovered to help reveal missing details of their rig and build.

The new boats were an instant success with the fishing community, since they combined a useful size and capacity with far more affordability than the old Five-Man Boats, which were, however, still a much loved craft on the coast. A number of the new yawls were produced by Skelton, and also copied by his fellow Scarborough fishing boat builders, one of whom seems to have taken the lead in their development, during that decade.

By the late 1830’s, the Yawls were being produced to larger dimensions, and were now fully decked, with ancient

traditional features of the three-masters being reintroduced, including the heavy covering boards fore and aft through which substantial timberheads were fitted, the continued use of the ancient form of capstan, and the retention of the removable section of bulwark to allow the launching and retrieval of the coble, carried on deck, for fishing operations out at sea; registered tonnage had risen to about 20 tons (old measurement).

The lute stern of the old luggers was reintroduced to the new craft around 1840, and at the same time a leap in the size of their construction occurred, and the evolution of the morphology of the yawl, that had thus taken a decade to achieve, was almost complete. As was the traditional practice during the herring season, the new Yawls joined with the Five-Men Boats in following the shoals south to Yarmouth, and working out of that port until late November, when they returned back home, and began refitting for the winter/spring long-lining fishery for cod, haddock, skate, turbot and halibut.

The yorkshire yawl alpha, one of the last to survive, showing her sail plan under gaff-rig. Note the lute stern, a feature carried on from the ancient five-man boats.

Skeltons foreman, John Edmonds, in evidence to the Washington Enquiry of 1849, stated that the Yawls had achieved their most useful degree of capacity about 1840. If Edmonds meant that the evolution of their design had fully matured at this time, this was true, but if in terms of their actual capacity or size, his comment was premature, and the Yawls were to continue to become increasingly larger. By 1850, Filey and other owners had dispensed with their earlier double-ended Yawls, or “yalls” as they were referred to by the fishermen in their broad local dialect, and had upgraded to the newer, larger, lute-sterned models. A small number of Yawls, principally owned by Staithes families, now sailed off the beach fronting the village, or from Whitby, where for a short while boat-builders had also turned their hand to building these craft.

The Yawls reached their zenith in the 1860s as fine powerful craft around 65 feet in length, and a beam of 18 feet. At this culmination of their evolution, the yawls had become, with very few morphological changes, the major ones being the reduction of the sail-plan to two masts instead of three, and a deeper hull with more deadrise to the floors, almost a copy of the old five-man luggers they had, by means of their greater affordability and greater ease of sailing, replaced and assisted into extinction. By the 1860s they had, themselves, become comparatively just as expensive to acquire as their predecessors had been, and like them, were usually aquired by multiple ownership.

The only remaining change to their design was to take place abruptly, sweeping through the entire yawl fleet around 1870, when the old standing-lug rig, which had been used on large fishing-craft for centuries, was suddenly replaced by gaff-rigged sails. Unlike the smacks, whose sails carried a boom, the mainsail of these re-fitted yawls remained loose-footed, the sheet travelling across another new addition, a large bar of iron, the “horse”, that traversed the vessel and was bent over, and bolted to, the outer bulwarks, while her mast rigging was altered and set up with chain plates and dead-eyes. Her sail plan now consisted of jib, fore, loose-footed main, and mizzen with a boom; aloft, the yawls carried lug-topsails, carried on long yards, to both main and mizzen.

By 1890, the harbours were filling with steam-powered vessels and it was clear to all that sail-powered craft would

Off to sea, a Filey yawl skipper at the helm in fine weather.

soon be an unwanted thing of the past. The Yawls, which had been the most substantial fishing craft in the Yorkshire harbours from the 1850’s, were now aging and being roughly treated by the large iron steam trawlers now filling the harbours, while in the summer herring fishery, they were jostled by the larger and massively built Scottish Zulus which came to the Yorkshire ports in droves. Many of the yawls were given a second lease of life by being “doubled”, involving a feather-edged plank being nailed over each clinkered strake to produce a smooth hull, before the whole hull was re-planked on top, carvel-fashion.

Although the yawls had all long since paid off their original debts and mortgages, and a small number of owners, like those of the sailing trawlers, had invested in a steam-powered capstan on deck to replace the old laborious tramp around the ancient style of hand-spike capstan, their returns from the fishing were not keeping pace with other sections of the fleet, yet they could still return a profit for some owners for a few more years provided their repair and maintainance costs could be kept to a minimum. At Staithes, many owners of both cobles and yawls, were seeing a fall in revenue from the fishing, a consequence of the extensive trawling effort, and the boats began to be sold off. Many of the Staithes yawls were sold to Scarborough owners, including the “William Ash”, whose proud registration of WY 1, emblazoned on her bows for so many years, was now painted out, to finished off her last few years with the Scarborough registration, SH 210.

By Edwardian times, “t’ord yalls” remaining were now generally leaky old vessels approaching forty, or in some cases, even more, years of age. The pattern of fishing was now to fit out the yawls for long-lining, during the winter, for cod until March, and then from late March until July, for haddock.  During the haddock season, weekly trips out to the Dogger were made, the landings being chiefly made at Grimsby, where a better price could be made, rather than Scarborough. Entrance to the Grimsby Dock was charge free, but after landing, when the yawls went straight back out to the Dogger, a charge of seven and six-pence had to be paid to get back out of the dock.

On board a yorkshire yawl. A contemporary drawing showing the coble alongside after retreiving the lines and the catch of cod, while other members of the crew gut and pack the fish

Out on the fishing grounds, the yawl was put by the wind and her forty or fifty long-lines, each carried on a traditional wicker “skep”, were slowly paid over the side, each being tied to the next line in sequence. After every fifth skep, a buoy, or “kess ‘n’ thing”, as they were traditionally known along the Yorkshire coast, was made fast and thrown overboard. If shooting lines in the dark, it was the job of the boys on board to hold the “duck” lamps, which burned with a flare-like and very sooty flame, while the men shot the lines over the side. With all the lines being shot, the yawl now sailed about, jogging to and fro within a short distance of her line of buoys for two hours, and then made ready to retrieve the gear and its catch, which was done from the coble that now had to be launched from the deck.

DUCK LAMPS IN THE YORKSHIRE FISHING INDUSTRY

Early 19^th century ‘duck’ lamps, also known as ‘flares’, were of cast iron, and were big, kettle-like lamps, with a large spout and wick, sometimes with two spouts, and burned whale oil, and were carried on all sizes of fishing craft, from the Five-Man Boat to the Sailing Coble, as the main source of light when working gear. Later they were made in large numbers by the local tin-smith, and burned paraffin, but by the late 1960’s were a unknown and forgotten bygone to most of the fishermen of the coast. The duck lamps were, however, remembered by the oldest of the fishermen interviewed at Scarborough, Whitby and Filey in the late 1960’s, since these lamps survived the days of sail for a short while, to be used on motorised cobles and steam trawlers. After a long search, examples of various duck lamps were eventually located for preservation in the Archive, the most curious example being donated by Filey fisherman “Chicken” Cammish, from the depths of his old store in the town.

The last local ship tin-smith, at Scarborough was “Tinner Sam” Cammish, who had followed his father into the business. Sam was still alive in the late 60’s, and despite his advancing years and poor eye-sight, was able to describe and roughly draw the construction of the duck lamps, and to relate where his very last workshop had been, in a dark, rough building in Quay Street. The building had been unused for some years, and fortunately, most of Sams tin-smithing tools, including the heavy soldering irons with their massive copper tips, still lay on his old bench, and were recovered for the Archive.

This ancient Yorkshire fishing craft was the largest and fastest fishing vessel of the British Isles, renowned for its safe sea-keeping abilities, until it finally became extinct about 1850/1860.

Although mentioned in text through the centuries, representations of their appearance is none existant until the early 19^th century, and most descriptions and illustrations today are based on the old Scarborough model, repaired in the early 20^th century, and now in the Science Museum. Because so little has been recorded about these craft, they have been the subject of particular research for the Archive, and a limited amount of new material has come to light that is the basis a re-appraisal and re-description of the morphology and use  of these famous craft.

Used for the traditional North Sea herring and long-line white-fish fisheries, this craft probably derived from the cog, evolving through the Medieval period, and getting its name from the custom of five men of the crew being equal partners dividing the proceeds into five equal shares, while two or three other crew members, usually boys, were paid a set amount.

Throughout  their history, these large clinker-built luggers, ranging from 55 to 65 feet in length, were built up without any form of internal frame being put in until the planking had reached deck level, whereupon timbers were cut, shaped and joggled to fit over the lands of the clinkered planking. This same skillful construction method for such large craft continued with the introduction of the Yorkshire Yawls, which evolved as a two-masted reconstruction of the ancient luggers, eventually bringing about their extinction, and is shown on rare old photographs of the yawls being built in the Scarborough shipyards

Evolution of the Five-men boats was essentially that of a two-masted vessel, which through the necessity of rigging a small mizzen sail at the stern while drifting to the herring nets, became a three-master. However, while the two main masts were substantial and stepped in deep tabernacles slewing off the centre line of the vessel, the mizzen, of which two sizes appear to have been carried, was never situated on the mid line of the vessel, but was simply stepped on the port or starboard stern quarter where and when required, and a crutch to support the main mast, when dropped back while the boat laid to the nets, or when not working, was staffed on the opposite stern quarter.

The hull was beamy, and the floors had little rise, due to the necessity of the craft having to dry out and moor up on the beaches or tidal harbours along the coast, and to land their catches. They appear to have had a long tradition, as with the small sailing cobles of the coast, of painting the bulwarks in broad and narrow stripes of bright colour. Contemporary reference material shows that various emblems were also painted on the bows and that, in some vessels at least, the graceful lute stern was elaborately decorated, a feature which, along with many others, was also carried forward to the Yorkshire Yawls as they evolved during the 1830’s. The main mast carried a fidded topmast, to carry a large lug-topsail.

Capable of great speed, it is recorded that in the 17^th century, a five-man boat returning to Scarborough from the fishing grounds was chased by a French pirate vessel, but managed to out run them, getting safely into the harbour. After quickly taking on weapons, the fishermen set sail again, and gave chase to the French pirates. Due to the swift sailing abilities of the fishermen’s five-man boat, the Frenchmen were soon overtaken.

Their speed, sea-worthiness and offshore capability, made them superb vessels to engage in smuggling as well as fishing, and in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, this activity was rife at the various fishing hamlets along the Yorkshire coast, and the activities of these boats, and the communities that used them, particularly at Staithes, Robin Hoods Bay and Filey, were frequently watched by the Revenue men.

When line-fishing, two cobles were carried on deck, which were launched and retrieved through a removable section of the bulwarks, and the fishing lines and catch were hauled in using the cobles, while the five-man boat dodged about or laid to.

During the herring season, which in the early nineteenth century sometimes began in June on the Yorkshire coast, the luggers carried only a single coble on deck. In the height of the season, as the boats came together in number from the various hamlets in order to land their catches at the beaches and harbours of the coast, they must have presented a glorious sight, with their large red and brown lug-sails, and their bulwarks gaily painted in stripes of different colours, while their black hulls contrasted with the vessels’ small cobles, whose planks were again painted in reds, blues, white and green, and which busily ferried the herring catches back to shore.

This old painting from the 1830’s shows such an animated scene, with the Yorkshire fleet of five-man boats laid off the sands at Whitby, their main masts laid back in their crutches, and with the shore-line and  beach a hive of activity with herring workers, agents and carters.

As the herring season advanced, the five-man boats followed the shoals south, working off the beach at Yarmouth, where a very similar craft was also in use, until the end of November, when the boats finally returned home and were  given a brief lay-up for refitting for the eventual start of the winter line fishing.

No photographs of these three masted luggers have yet been discovered during the research, but since they survived the advent of photography by some years, it is just possible that one day such an image may be discovered.

THE HERRING COBLE

A typical herring coble, also known as a mule, running off under the big lug-sail and a jib, but she carries a number of big sweeps in case the wind drops.

The origin of this craft is unknown, but in the early nineteenth century these ‘big cobles’ as they were more frequently referred to, were to be found both as partially-decked or entirely open craft, and were more usually fitted with two masts. Built with both ends alike, or double-ended, the top strakes were wide and had a certain amount of tumble-home. These boats were considerably larger than the typical Yorkshire sailing coble, being of about 8-12 tons, old measurement, and about 30 to 35 feet in length, with a beam of 10 to 11 feet, but by the end of the century the length of some of these craft exceeded 40 feet. Worked by usually four men, sometimes with a boy, these boats had beamy sterns and thus had considerable carrying capacity for fishing gear and catch.

The Herring Cobles were decked over near the bows for about a quarter of their length, thus giving a cabin or cuddy, with a small stove, where the crew could sleep and cook a meal and boil a kettle, while the rest of the boat was open. The open part of the boat was shallow, the bottom boards being only about 2 feet below the gunwale, thus leaving an appreciable space below them, to be used as wells for the stowing of herring nets and other fishing gear. Two thofts were situated near the stern of the boat, while another was situated a short distance behind the decked-in cuddy.

The mast, which carried a big lug-sail, was stepped into a tabernacle let in to the aft side of the cuddy, and when hauling the herring nets, the mast was lowered back in a gantry formed by timbers bridging the cuddy and the thoft behind it, and was laid to rest upon a forked rest or crutch, one arm of which was extended as a round pin, upon which, when working gear in the dark, a lantern was fixed.

By the 1860s all these craft were half-decked and carried a single mast and bowsprit. These were all-year, multipurpose craft, used for long-lining, potting or herring fishing, which became their principle use in the latter half of the nineteenth century when increasing numbers of this craft were produced.

The arduous work of hauling herring nets was done by sheer manpower, but a few rare craft later in the century were fitted with a small mechanical hauler, fitted with two handles, standing on the starboard stern quarter. Two men stood on opposite sides of the hauler to crank the handles, while the warp of the nets came in and was pulled off the hauler by another member of the crew and lead down into the starboard well of the boat. A fourth member of the crew stood towards the forward thoft and hauled the foot of the net inboard.

THE CORFE

When long-lining for whitefish out of the herring season, the procedure on board the herring coble was the same as that adopted on the larger vessels, the Yorkshire Yawls, where the lines, coiled on the traditional wicker-work skeps, were shot from the deck of the yawl, and then retrieved, a couple of hours later, by launching the coble(s) carried on deck, the lines and their catch being hauled back into the coble, and later transferred to the Yawl.

For this same task, the herring cobles carried a small, locally built, and quite unique boat, known as a corfe, a corruption in dialect of calf, for hauling in the long-lines and retrieving the catch.

Like its host vessel on which it was carried, the corfe has never been fully described, and in fact the term corfe has frequently been misunderstood in most accounts of Yorkshire’s fishing history, and is more often very incorrectly used as an adjective to refer to any small boat carried on board another. In fact, the corfe was a very distinct boat of specific local build, for use only with the herring coble, and like its parent craft, was restricted to the Yorkshire Coast. It was best and succinctly described, by the artist Ernest Dade, as a cross between a coble and a smack’s (sailing trawler’s) boat, a description fully confirmed by examining those contemporary photographs and models that show any detail of these little boats.

Despite a length of only 10 feet, they could carry two men together with a ton of fish, and the retrieved long lines coiled back on their skeps. The corfe was lightly built, with clinkered strakes, the top two strakes being wide with tumble-home, coble fashion, but the strakes became very narrow as they nipped in to the stern, which, unlike the coble, was vertical, not raking. Three thofts were fitted across the boat with another across the stern. Unlike the coble, which worked substantial oars consisting of wash and clog that worked on pins, the corfe was set up with two pairs of rowlocks and was worked with short, ordinary oars.

Extinction of the Herring cobles and corfes

With the coming of engines, the herring coble could be adapted to this form of propulsion fairly easily, and some thus survived for some years after their local contemporaries, the smacks and yawls, had become extinct; nevertheless, by the 1930’s nearly all the herring cobles had disappeared. A few of the little corfes found another use for some years, by yachtsmen as harbour tenders for their boats, but a search of Scarborough’s yacht harbour in 1967 showed that they too had vanished. The last remains of a herring coble, a former Scarborough boat, were photographed for the Archive in 1970 as she lay collapsing in the mud at Whitby, where she had laid rotting for some decades.

Research of these two boats, as with other types of Yorkshire’s fishing craft from the days of sail, has been ongoing for some time using the essential material of photographs and contemporary paintings and models, but there is still much detail to be learned and further material is constantly being sought.

INTRODUCTION

Some of the Ray's Bream collected and sampled at Scarborough during the 2008/9 autumn-winter period.

A prominent characteristic of the fish fauna of the North Sea coast of the British Isles, from Scotland to Suffolk, and particularly of the Yorkshire sector, is the occurrence of the oceanic, mesopelagic Brama brama, the Ray’s Bream, first recorded as a British fish at Middlesborough Marsh on Teeside in 1681 by Ray and Willughby.

Ray’s Bream is a typical member of the family Bramidae, characterised by their deep, laterally compressed bodies, covered in large, brightly silvered scales. The pelvic fins are small, but the pectorals are very long and blade-like, while the caudal fin is long and deeply cleft. Internally, the gut is short, and provided with a few very large pyloric caecae.

Ray’s bream is found commonly in deep-water in the Western Mediterranean, in the Atlantic off Madeira, Spain and Portugal, and each summer migrates north, to the west of Ireland, as far as Norway. It is known to be predated on, in these mesopelagic depths, by sharks including Centrophorus squamosus.

The numbers of Ray’s bream penetrating south into the shallow North Sea basin, however, are not constant, with the fish sometimes going unrecorded for many years. Alternatively, the fish periodically and inexplicably shows great incursions and increased frequency into the North Sea basin, and these events may sometimes extend over several consecutive years.

Dissection of a male Rays Bream, showing the rakers and gills, the stomach and the large pyloric caecae.

Particularly good years of greater migration into the North Sea were in the 1920’s, peaking in 1927 and 1928, and again in the late 1940’s and ‘50’s, peaking in 1952, but historically, the events of the greatest magnitude have occurred within the last 40 years.

CAUSAL FACTORS OF RAY’S BREAM EVENTS IN THE NORTH SEA BASIN

The nature of these “Rays Bream events” down the east coast and their causal factors is not understood, and a number of biological and physical components have been suggested as being involved in their creation, including:-

i)   Periodic successful spawning and larval survival years in their home waters, giving rise to a number of heavy year-classes of the fish which then become more numerous and noticeable in their northward migration, with subsequent mass penetration of the North sea.

ii)   Unusual hydrographic conditions that cause large runs of a normal population of the fish from the Atlantic into the North Sea.

iii)  A combination of these two components, when years of increased stocks of the fish also coincide with years of increased Atlantic inflow into the North Sea.

Dissection of a female Rays bream. The liver is displaced to show the viscera in situ. Note the large pyloric caecae and the ovaries below the abdominal ribs.

iv)  A useful study by the researchers Mead and Haedrich (1965), who gathered all the known northern occurrences of the fish up to that time, postulated that Rays’s Bream is limited in distribution to waters warmer than 12.5 degrees Centigrade, and could not survive in temperatures below 10 degrees Centigrade.

A study of the data accumulating since 1965 reveals problems of consideration of any of these factors, and the nature of these Ray’s Bream events is evidently more complex.

RAY’S BREAM EVENTS SINCE 1965, SCARBOROUGH DATA.

No local records of the fish are known for 1965 or 1966, but since the inception of the Yorkshire Rare Fish Recording Scheme at Scarborough in 1967, enlisting the daily retention and collection of rare and unusual fishes from the Scarborough fleet, all specimens of Brama caught by fishing gear have been recorded, with the local beaches also being monitored for their occurrence by stranding. The accumulated records therefore illustrate the relative frequency of occurrence, together with the length distributions, of Ray’s Bream occurring on the Yorkshire coast, from 1967 to 2010.

Until recent years, the greatest recorded run of the fish into the North Sea began in 1967, the numbers increasing year upon year until the peak of the mid 1970’s, following which the migrations fell away to a cessation of records in 1983.

All Brama obtained at Scarborough are measured and examined internally for stomach contents, parasites and gender.

Occurrences of the fish were rarely recorded in the following 20 year period until their comparative reappearance in 2005, their virtual absence from the North Sea during this period resulting in many east-coast fishermen only recently encountering the fish for the first time in their fishing careers.  Since 2005 the numbers of fish occurring in each succeeding year have once again continued to increase in a repetition of the events of the late 60’s and early 1970’s.

The numbers of fish recorded in the autumn/winter of 2009/10 are therefore, as expected, greater than those of the corresponding 2008/9 season, and both these latter periods are at least equally comparable in magnitude to the 1975/6 and 1976/7 peak years.

A direct comparison of the Yorkshire records between these two time periods is not possible, because of the collapse, since the late 1980’s, of trawling effort by the Scarborough fleet, a daily and primary source of numerous records of rare and unusual fish records. Returns from the present day fleet are therefore considerably reduced.

However, the records accumulating from other methods of monitoring the fish are comparable, and together with the background of recent anecdotal reports from along the coast, confirm that the magnitude of the 2009/10 incursion is historically the greatest of the fish to have occurred, and exceeds that of the 1975-7 maximum. While it is possible that

The otoliths of Brama, like those of most pelagic fish, are small, in fact smaller than those of many small shore fishes.

the 2009/10 Brama season may have seen the peak of the current cycle, with numbers of the fish beginning to fall away in forthcoming seasons, it is equally possible that the incursion cycle has not yet attained its maximum, in which case the numbers of Brama occurring on the Yorkshire coast in 2010/11 will be phenomenal.

The length (age) distribution of the fish occurring recently, compared to those of the earlier period, is very different, the fish being much smaller than the very large fish occurring through the 1970’s.

BIOLOGICAL SAMPLING OF RAY’S BREAM

Recording of Brama brama each year has followed a standardised method of biological sampling to give comparative results throughout the ongoing sequence of data:-

The weight of all whole fish is measured in grams.

The total length, measured in millimetres, is that from the snout to the extreme tip of the closed, outstretched, longest lobe of the caudal fin.

NB The caudal fin of Brama is extremely variable; in some fish its proportion is noticeably large in comparison to the total length of the fish, and this fin is also frequently asymmetrical, with either dorsal or ventral lobe being longer than the other.  Standard length only has therefore been used to compare the yearly length distributions and for other comparative and statistical work.

Stomach contents of a Brama from the Yorks coast, including a Horse Mackerel, Caranx, a little cuttle, Sepiola, and a clupeid,

The standard length is recorded as that from the snout to the terminal ventral margin of the caudal peduncle.

Buccal and branchial cavities are examined for parasites.

Gills are then removed and preserved for later parasite investigation.

Otoliths for age studies are removed, washed in distilled water, followed by acetone, and stored in tubes. Otoliths of Brama are difficult to interpret and it has been found useful to scorch some otoliths to a dark brown colour before examination in one of the usual clearing media or mounting in DPX.

Viscera are examined in situ and then removed, stomach contents are examined and the stomach preserved with the gut for later parasite investigation.

The fish is sexed and ovaries weighed and preserved for later examination.

Fish recovered from the beaches are frequently damaged by birds, but such material not only forms part of the yearly monitoring of the numbers of fish occurring, but is still invaluable for providing data since at the very least the important standard length can be recorded and otoliths obtained. Although under such conditions the viscera may be

An unusual prey item for Brama, a dragonet, Callionymus lyra.

reveal parasite infection data.

FEEDING AND PREY OF BRAMA BRAMA OFF THE YORKSHIRE COAST

All Brama examined on the Yorkshire coast are fine, heavy, healthy fish, that appear to be well fed, probably following heavy feeding activity during the summer period, when the fish escapes notice due to the absence of any local fishery using pelagic gear that will select and reveal its presence at this time.

Only in 1976 and 1977 when numerous boats along the coast converted their fishing gears for participation in the increased sprat fishery of that time, was a suitable pelagic fishery present to reveal the presence of the fish, high in the water column, on the Yorkshire grounds. A Russian sprat-fishing vessel, one of many present off the Yorkshire coast in 1976, was observed to have strings of split and salted Brama hanging up to dry on deck.

Brama caught in the sprat fishery at that time were gorged chiefly upon sprats, Sprattus, but young mackerel, Scomber, herring, Harengus, and whiting, Merlangius, were also found in stomach contents. Other prey items recorded included euphausiids and 0-group stages of the grey gurnard, Eutrigulus.

Although most autumnal and winter fish of the 2009/10 incursion were, as usual, devoid of stomach contents, a small proportion of the fish have been found to be still actively feeding into January 2010, despite the low temperatures. Prey items have again included euphausiids and clupeids, together with Scad, Caranx, and Sepiola, and more frequently, small squid [Loligo or Alloteuthis].

What would seem a very unusual prey item for Brama, an adult dragonet, Callionymus, was found in the stomach of a fish taken at Scarborough in January 2010.

TEMPERATURE CROPPING OF BRAMA BRAMA

The rays bream begins to strand on gently sloping beaches when the temperature begins to fall, with Yorks records extending over several months.

As noted above, there are no pelagic fisheries operating off the Yorkshire coast to reveal the presence of the fish in the warmest period of late summer, when the fish will be most active, and when a review of the records, as shown by Mead and Haedrich, suggests that the fish, in some years at least, should be present in the Central North Sea. Historically, records of Brama in the area only begin to accumulate with the progressive autumnal fall in sea temperatures, the probable reason for a proportion of the fish becoming more susceptible to capture by static demersal fishing gears such as trammels and gill-nets, slow-moving demersal trawls, and by stranding on gently sloping, sandy beaches during this period of decreasing sea-temperatures.

The effect of falling temperatures on Brama is not immediate and catastrophic, but is protracted over many weeks, with fish continuing to be stranded through January and into mid February 2010, when sea temperatures are considerably below the tolerance parameters concluded by Mead and Haedrich, and a noticeable later time-shift in the fall-out period of Brama is demonstrable in the records between the cycle of 1967-1982 and that of the present cycle, 2005-(2010).

PARASITE FAUNA OF YORKSHIRE BRAMA BRAMA

A number of parasitic taxa have been recorded from the several hundred Brama that have been examined in the Scarborough district.

The free-swimming copepod Caligus is frequently encountered in the buccal cavity and inside the opercula, and has also been found to be present in some numbers on the external surface of those fish recovered immediately on stranding. No sessile parasitic copepoda have been encountered.

This common parasite of Brama is the large monogenean trematode, Kollikeria. Three large,encysted females with their tiny male companions are shown here, inside the operculum of the fish.

The gill axils and tissue covering the cleithrum and branchiostegals are frequently infected with didymozoon monogenean trematodes, including Koellikeria filicollis, with very large encysted females sometimes being present. More infrequently, the tissue of the anterior wall of the pericardium is also infected. Another monogenean trematode, Octodactylus, is the only parasite recorded from the gills of the Yorkshire fish, but is extremely rare.

Tetraphyllidean cestode larvae are present in the gastro-intestinal tract of most fish. No adult cestodes have been found. The musculature of the majority of Brama examined has been infected with the large larvae of the Lacistorhynchid cestode Floriceps gigas.

Nematodes, including Thynnascaris and Hysterothylacium are surprisingly infrequent and infection rates always low.

Infections by digenean trematodes , although commonly encountered in most fishes, have rarely been found in Yorkshire specimens of Brama, despite the large number of fish examined.

Species of Acanthocephala are also rare. A single specimen of Echinorhynchus occurring in the coelom attached to the outer surface of the liver of a Brama in 1976, is the only adult acanthocephalan recorded and is probably therefore an aberrant infection. Larvae of Bolbosoma have also been recorded.

A porbeagle shark being winched out of the fish hold on the scarborough trawler Independence in 1999.

A number of sharks are taken by fishing gear as a by catch off the Yorkshire coast and are invariably brought back to the fish market, where they always attract interest.

Only one shark species occurring locally has formed the subject of a specific, targeted fishery by Yorkshire commercial boats, although Porbeagle sharks have, in the past, been targeted along this coastline by Danish fishermen, setting sub-surface long lines.

There is very little biological information relating to most previous catches of shark occurring off the Yorkshire coast, because until recently, the unnecessary tradition of selling sharks in a whole and un-gutted condition has usually precluded anything other than a cursory examination.  Over the years a small amount of information has been gleaned from local catches of Basking shark and, very rarely, of the porbeagle.

In recent years, however, more thorough examination has been made of three species through the help and permission of a number of fishing skippers and fish salesmen; porbeagle sharks and a thresher have been dissected either before or after sale, and their stomach contents, gut parasites, and reproductive organs have been examined. Extraction of vertebrae, which are used for ageing studies of sharks, is however, not possible for examinations carried out when the fish are still in the middle of the marketing and transport process.

A rare opportunity to examine a small example of the basking shark, now protected from exploitation, was obtained when the skipper of a Scarborough trawler, Shaun Crowe, kindly brought back for examination a specimen found to be dead on hauling the net, instead of merely dumping the dead fish back onto the fishing grounds without any information being obtained from it.

SHARKS RECORDED FROM THE YORKSHIRE COAST AND CENTRAL NORTH SEA

A fine blue shark stranded on a Yorkshire beach.

A large number of shark species inhabit the deep water both on and off the continental shelf to the west and north of the British Isles, including the deep northern north sea, beyond the 200 metre depth contour. The greater North Sea area to the south of this becomes increasingly shallow, thus effectively restricting their distribution further south. Twelve species of shark may be regarded as having been recorded from the survey area of the central North sea, but only two of these deep water demersal species, the large Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus and the curious bramble shark, Echinorhinus brucus, have, with any frequency, penetrated further south into this shallow area.

The Greenland shark was caught on a number of occasions in Victorian times and in the early 20th century, but has been extremely rare since then. There have been three remarkable captures of small juvenile fish only during the present survey, one of which had been feeding on a cetacean corpse immediately before capture.

Twelve species of shark have been recorded from the Yorkshire coast, including four epipelagic, open water species and seven demersal species while another, the wide ranging and cosmopolitan spurdog, is the only species to have been targeted specifically by Yorkshire fishermen.

Two female porbeagle shark of similar size on Scarborough fish market. One is immature, the other mature.

Isuridae

Lamna nasus (Bonnaterre, 1788) Porbeagle Shark

Cetorhinidae

Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765) Basking Shark

Alopiidae

Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788) Thresher or Fox Shark

Scyliorhinidae

Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnnaeus, 1758) Lesser spotted dogfish, locally Nurse

Scyliorhinus stellaris (Linnaeus, 1758) Nursehound, Greater spotted Dogfish

Carcharinidae

Ovaries of immature and mature porbeagle sharks shown above on Scarborough fish market.

Prionace glauca (Linnaeus, 1758) Blue Shark

Triakidae

Mustelus asterias Cloquet, 1821 Starry Smooth Hound

Galeorhinus galeus (Linnaeus, 1758)  Tope

Squalidae

Squalus acanthias Linnaeus, 1758  Spiny or Spur dogfish

Echinorhinus bruchus (Bonnaterre, 1788) Spinous or Bramble Shark

Somniosus microcephalus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) Greenland Shark

Squatinidae

Squatina squatina (Linnaeus, 1758) Fiddle fish, Monk fish

A NOTE ON THE SPECIES OF MUSTELUS IN THE NORTH SEA

Two species of the common small ground sharks known as smooth hounds are known from european waters, Mustelus asterias, the starry smoothhound, and Mustelus mustelus, the plain smoothhound, and both species are frequently stated in reference works to occur throughout the North Sea.

Ovary detail of a mature porbeagle shark.

M. asterias frequently has a scattering of white specks over the body, but it is extremely variable in this respect, and therefore this marking must not be relied upon to be a specific character; off the Yorkshire coast, many fish are totally devoid of this white speckling and therefore resemble M. mustelus.

Positive identification must be made by examination of the dermal denticles, which in M. asterias are ridged almost to the tips, while those of M. mustelus are ridged only at their bases, with smooth tips.

All specimens of Mustelus examined during the survey, whatever their external markings, have proved to be Mustelus asterias, and M mustelus is therefore not regarded as being present in the central North sea.

CHANGES IN THE STATUS OF SOME CENTRAL NORTH SEA SHARKS

There have been changes in the status and distribution of several of the species formerly recorded from this sea area. As noted above, the Greenland shark, Somniosus, is now extremely rare and has been so for several decades. The bramble shark, Echinorhinus, a sluggish demersal species from deep water of the continental shelf, was occasionally caught in the North Sea during the 19^th century, but has not been recorded since the last example was caught, rolled up in Whitby fishermen’s lines, in the 1890’s.

Dissection of the basking shark at Scarborough.

Two ground sharks, the angel shark, Squatina, formerly known to Yorkshire fishermen as the fiddle fish, and the greater-spotted dogfish or bull-huss, Scyliorhinus stellaris, are now extinct in the area; Squatina has not been seen since the late 1950’s, and the bull huss was last seen in the early 1970’s.

The thresher, Alopias vulpinus, was also frequently reported in the 19^th century, particularly around the Whitby area, where it was regularly reported by fishermen to be chasing salmon and trout off the harbour; individuals were caught into the early 20^th century, since when records have ceased until recently. A young, recently born pup was reported from a salmon net in Bridlington Bay, and released, while a female  caught in Filey bay in 2007, was  believed, on dissection, to have liberated young just a short time before capture.

THE MOST RECENT EXAMINATION; A FEMALE PORBEAGLE SHARK FROM WHITBY, CAUGHT BY RICHARD BREWER, NOV. 2009.

A large female porbeagle was landed by Richard Brewer on the Whitby fish market on November 13^th 2009 and was bought by Alliance fish . The shark was brought through to their premises at Scarborough, where the fish was dissected before final transport to their customer; we are grateful to Mr Bob Scarborough for permission to dissect the shark, and to his staff for assistance.

The shark was one of the largest seen on the local markets, and also one of the most interesting. It had eaten a number of fish, but we were surprised to find its most recent meal had been of a large salmon, full of roe, that was only partially digested.

This shark was a gravid female, with huge ovary and swollen uteri, each of which contained numerous unfertilised eggs in capsules, among which were two tiny pups.

Gravid porbeagle at Whitby , Nov. 09; two pups among capsules full of yolk eggs that they will slowly devour.

Porbeagle pups from a shark landed by Richard Brewer at Whitby, nov. 09. Note the enlarged branchial area and the stomach bloated with yolk eggs devoured while in the uteri.

A male chinese mitten crab; note the box-like carapace and the long legs.

The Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis, is a medium sized crab, unmistakeable when found; its colour is a light greenish-grey to brown, with a box-like carapace which in large specimens may reach over 70mm in width. The front of the carapace between the eyes, bears a concave central notch; the sides of the carapace have four, not very prominent, teeth. The legs are long, with an extreme span nearly five times the carapace width, and with dense setae along the distal half of their length.

The chelipeds are the most notable feature of this crab, being clothed in a dense fur of long setae, this feature having given the crustacean its name of mitten crab.

This crab is a native of China, and is typically a fresh-water species that migrates to saline waters in order to breed, the larvae developing in the sea.

The species first appeared in Europe in 1912 when it was found in Germany, but was not found in Britain until a specimen found in the Thames at Chelsea in 1935 became the first to be recorded here; only since the 1970’s has the crab made a slow but steady advance elsewhere in the country.

First recorded in the Humber in 1976, it has now ascended many of its tributaries, and is now found through South Yorkshire; in 2008 a specimen gained publicity by being taken from the River Don almost in the centre of Doncaster. Further north its presence was first confirmed in the River Tyne in 2001, and to the west, the first Irish record was confirmed in January 2006.

Claws of a male chinese mitten crab showing the dense fur-like setae; specimen from Bridlington Bay.

An unconfirmed report was received in 2008 that a specimen had been taken by a fisherman in Bridlington Bay, but in early 2009 a living crab was collected from Bridlington Bay, with a number of other marine specimens, during our survey of Brama brama along the coast. This is the first known occurrence of the crab from the sea area off the Yorkshire coast; the specimen is now preserved in the crustacean collection at Scarborough.

Watercolour by G Arnold of the Scarborough steam trawler 'Scorpion' in heavy weather, painted in 1913.

From about 1880, the successful application of steam power to beam trawling began to oust the sailing trawler, and a boom in new-builds of both wooden and iron steam trawlers began along the entire east coast from Aberdeen to Grimsby. In the wake of this massive build of new trawlers was the fashion by owners and skippers, and sometimes by members of the crew, to have a painting of their boat on the wall at home, and two particular painters, A. Harwood and G. Arnold, became known among the fishermen of the coast, as specialist painters in fishing boat portraits. Arnold is perhaps less known, and many of his paintings have an unfinished appearance, and frequently the background of the sky is left unpainted. Harwood, 1851-1922, became a more prolific painter of such watercolour paintings, which are now historically interesting documents of this period of expansion in the fishing industry, and a number of his works are present in our collections.

He started to paint only later in his life, and his earliest paintings from the early 1890’s are basic and elementary, and probably because of this, few of this date have survived the dustbin, yet this is an interesting period in fisheries history, since although the sailing smack was fast disappearing, they were still at work in the fleets. In addition, these were also the transition years from the ancient beam trawl to the otter trawl that fishermen had thumbed their nose at for some decades past, but which would

An early painting by Harwood. Although badly mistreated, having been folded in half, and suffered water damage, it is historically very interesting, showing the early Scarborough steam trawler the Otter. Although the otter trawl was first introduced to commercial boats in 1895, this painting of 1896 shows the Otter still using beam gear.

His technique quickly developed, and became more polished, though his paintings always remained strictly portrait and with boat and sea often very stylised, the vessels always shown broadside on, but after all, that is exactly what his clientele wanted. The vessels were usually depicted and purchased as a pair of paintings, one illustrating the boat in fine, flat-calm weather, under blue sky, while the second painting showed the vessel in foul weather, with riotous sea, foam and heavy sky.

Through the mid 20^th century, their appeal waned and many were thrown away or sold out of the fishing families, a few at least, entering the export antiques trade and ending up in America, and many of the paired paintings of fair and foul weather rig became separated. Others suffered a different fate, and several old fishermen, interviewed in the 1960’s, recalled that several paintings that had ended up in fishermen’s stores and bait houses had eventually been turned to the wall, had a dart-board chalked on the back, and had been peppered with holes through games of darts. Years later the tales were corroborated when two such mistreated Harwood paintings were subsequently discovered and restored for our collection.

WE ARE ANXIOUS TO PURCHASE TRAWLER AND FISHING BOAT PAINTINGS BY THESE TWO ARTISTS FOR ENTRY INTO OUR HISTORICAL SEQUENCE, SO PLEASE CONTACT DAVE WHITTAKER IF YOU HAVE AN EXAMPLE THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST AND THAT YOU WISH TO SELL.

A late Harwood of the Scarborough trawler 'Taranaki', painted in 1920 when she had just joined the fleet. Operated by the Stepney Steam Fishing Co. Ltd, her career was short-lived, as she was sunk by mine with the death of one crewman.

A later painting, 1921, by Harwood of the 'Albion' of Scarborough, the last sailing vessel owned by the Colling family. This painting had been used as a dart-board.

The crawfish recently caught by the Scarborough trawler Independence, skipper Mark Cappleman, off Flamborough Head.

The crew of the Scarborough trawler Independence, FR 196, had a surprise when emptying their net off Flamborough recently, when they discovered a crawfish among the catch. The North Sea is not within the usual distribution of the crawfish, Palinurus elephas, so it was not surprising that the crew of the trawler had not seen one before.  Skipper Mark Cappleman, realising he’d caught something unusual, put the spiny crustacean in a tub of water and made a few calls ashore to find out more about his catch.

We could tell Mark that this is the first crawfish ever taken by a boat working out of Scarborough, and according to our biodiversity records, it is only the fourth to be found in the Central North sea area, the first being a long way back when a specimen was taken  by a beam trawler in the 1880’s, curiously enough in the same area, off Flamborough Head.

The specimen from Independence is now being kept alive in one of our holding aquaria until a larger tank is prepared.

The crawfish is common off the south-west of the British Isles, and valuable fisheries produce quantities from there and off Ireland. The species extends further north, however, but with increasing scarcity, off the west coast of Scotland and as far as the Shetlands.

The crawfish is regarded as rare off the east coast of Scotland, and is virtually unknown further south, so that any records from the North Sea are of great interest. The current record of the crawfish adds to a growing list of unusual North Sea crustacean records that have accumulated from the Yorkshire area over the past twenty years or so.

The Harlequin ladybird, a recent introduction to the British fauna, is the most variably coloured and patterned ladybird  to be found in the British Isles. Otherwise known as the Multicoloured Asiatic ladybird, it was introduced into Europe as a biological control agent, spreading rapidly through western Europe, then to the British Isles, where it was first found in southern England in the summer of 2004. By the late summer of 2007 it had reached east Yorkshire and has since been recorded to the north of Scotland.

A cluster of harlequin ladybids, Harmonia, from the recent swarm along the Yorkshire coast. Notice the extreme variability of this ladybird.

As a voracious predator in both its adult and larval stages, there are fears that it could have a detrimental effect not just on our native ladybirds, but on other insect species as well. Some scientists have predicted that it will seriously effect probably several hundred of our native British species, and so the insect fauna throughout Britain is being monitored closely to see what effect, if any, the Harlequin ladybird explosion has through the next few years.

The Yorkshire coast now appears to be thoroughly populated by this ladybird. In the path of strong southerly air flows along the country in October 2009, large numbers of the beetle swept through the Yorkshire area. In late October, further warm southerly winds from the Sahara induced the beetles to flight and on one morning near Scarborough, thousands were seen on the wing and alighting on herbage. The swarm penetrated at least to Cleveland. With torrential rain the following week, masses of the beetle were seen among flood refuse in the Tees at Stockton. More observant members of the public had found them in their houses, while one lady at Scarborough was surprised to find 25 sheltering under her dustbin lid.

With such a large population of the beetle now present in the Scarborough district and throughout the area, where many of the recent swarm will doubtless hibernate successfully over the winter, a noticable explosion of Harmonia larvae may be expected along the North East coast in 2010.