Cast (Fish)

A handful of fish cast aside as make-weight, allowing buyers a margin for undersized or broken fish without the need for inspection.

The cast began as exactly what the word suggests, a handful thrown aside, and grew into a formal allowance. Buyers wanted a margin for fish that turned out undersized or damaged, and rather than inspect every catch the trade simply agreed a number of extra fish per hundred. At Kinsale in April 1873 fishermen struck against buyers seeking a further sixpence in the pound discount, arguing they already gave two casts in every 120, and the dispute ran three days and cost one man his life before the established terms were restored. At some earlier point cast and warp appear to have meant the same thing, and when or why they diverged is not recorded.