CHAPTER XVI 



THE DECADENCE OF THE DEEP-SEA FISHERIES 



The last fifty years of the history of the New England 

 fisheries afford a more complete record of their condition 

 than is given by any former period. It is a record filled 

 with deeds of daring and of suffering equal to the hardy 

 experiences of fishermen during colonial times. The fish- 

 eries have changed during the centuries in the methods of 

 pursuit and of capture; but charts of the coast cannot 

 lessen the severity of winter seas, neither are the men of 

 the later period less daring and courageous because of light- 

 houses and patrols along the shore. The history of fisher- 

 men must always be a record of a superior class of men 

 who are ready to brave the severest storms and exposures 

 of the ocean in order to gain a living, men who apparently 

 have little regard for their own life and safety, due to 

 long continued experiences of a hazardous nature in bat- 

 tling for the safety of their little craft. 



It will be remembered that one of the first acts of the 

 Federal Government was the passage of an act that gave 

 fishing vessels the benefit of a bounty. This measure of 

 national assistance continued in force until 1866, since 

 which time the fisheries have received no help in the form 

 of bounties. That the benefit of bounties was a wise and 

 beneficial provision cannot be doubted. However, from 

 1845 to 1885 the fisheries of the country were in a pros- 

 perous condition, in general, and would have prospered 

 had there been no system of bounties. Those were years 

 of abundance of deep-sea fish, and for a decade before 



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