THE FRENCH SARDINE INDUSTRY. 



547 



able seasons as many as 25,000 barrels of roe have been expended in 

 Concarneau alone. 



For at least two centuries cod roe has been imported from Norway, 

 which country has always furnished the greater part of the sardine bait. 

 Other countries which have contributed supplies are Holland, New- 

 foundland and the United States. From time to time the French 

 Government has encouraged its own cod fishermen (at St. Pierre and 

 Miquelon; on the Grand Banks; in the waters of Iceland, and in the 

 North Sea) to preserve the roes of cod and other fish, and in 1816 

 offered a bounty of $4.00 a barrel for roe made from fish caught by 

 them; but this and other inducements have had little effect on the 

 supply from native sources. 



Sardine Boats in the Harbor of Concarneau. 



The price of roe has varied greatly from year to year. In the early 

 jjart of the eighteenth century, bait was bought for 50 cents to $1.00 

 a barrel, and throughout that century prices were comparatively low. 

 In the second decade of the last century prices reached their highest 

 point; they were apparently never less than $32.00, and ranged from 

 that to $60.00 per barrel. By 1822 the price had fallen as low as 

 85.00 or $6.00, and since then has seldom been as high as $25.00 or 

 $26.00, averaging $12.00 or $15.00 The average price for Norwegian 

 roe recently has been about $7.00 per barrel. In 1900, owing to the 

 failure of the Norwegian cod fishery and the resulting scarcity of roe, 

 the price for Norwegian bait rose to $24.00 per barrel. The price of 



