1824 F. Hitchins & S. Drew II. 471 The pilchard fishery furnishes the staple commodity of the place.
1931 E. G. Boulenger iv. 49 The Spotted Dogfish..causes great havoc to the Herring and Pilchard fisheries.
2000 39 302 Parliament's ready intervention to promote the pilchard fisheries of Cornwall and Devon [in the late eighteenth cent.].