BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 417 



Vol. I¥, No. 37. Washiaigton, ®. C. Sept. ^5, 1884. 



ao3 THE si<:a-fisiie:rbes of fkance and A£.01ERS. 



By BE]\JAiriIN F. PEIXOTTO, U. S. Cousul at Lyons. 



[From Reports of tlie Consuls of the Uu.ited States ou the Commerce, Manufactures, 

 &c., of their Consular Districts, pp. 659-661, inclusive.] 



1. — Fisheries of France. 



In my dispatch No. 281, of December 9, 1882, I gave some account 

 of the sea-fisheries of France for 1881.* I have now the pleasure to re- 

 port some additional facts relating to the fisheries of 1882. 



Boats and fishermen. — During the year 1882 the French fisheries 

 employed 22,891 boats, of an aggregate tonnage of 156,287, while 136,- 

 799 persons were engaged in fishing. 



Value. — The value of the product caught amounted to $17,941,878, 

 representing an increase over the product of 1881 of more than $1,930,- 

 000. All the branches of fishing were not equally favored. 



Herring. — The catch of herring, for example, which furnishes no 

 small part of the little ports of the Kormandy coast from Dunkirk to 

 Havre, suifered seriously from bad weather, a portion of the fishing 

 fleet being dispersed by the tempests. The yield from the herring 

 fislieries reached only 56,250,000 pounds, against 87,750,000 pounds, the 

 capture of 1881, while the merchantable value fell from $1,737,000 in 

 1881 to $1,447,500 in 1882. 



OoD. — The cod -fisheries were better ; 156 boats left for Newfound- 

 land at the commencement of the season, with an equipment of 5,165 

 men. They returned with over 40,000,000 pounds of fish, which brought 

 $1,679,679. In 1881 they captured 39,600,000 pounds, which sold for 

 $1,505,400. 



To Iceland, where the cod is also found, 211 boats, with 3,698 fisher- 

 men, were sent. Their capture amounted to 27,000,000 pounds, against 

 about 22,000,000 pounds during the previous year, which realized $2,- 



895,000. 



sardine-fisheries. 



Coasting fishing is followed by those who have but slight resources, 

 and who are unable to form connections with commission and forward- 

 ing capitalists. These fishermen are aided by their wives and cLiildren. 

 Sardines form the principal, if not exclusive, object of their search. 

 For several years they have been compelled to abandon their usual fish- 

 ing grounds and have recourse to the open sea. Their boats not being 



* Published in Consular Reports, No. 27. 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 84 27 



