FISHES AND MANKIND 383 



adequate and properly balanced diet. The vitamins present 

 in the bodies of fatty fishes and in the livers of almost all fishes, 

 are derived directly from the plankton, that host of minute 

 organisms which directly or indirectly provides the source of 

 food for all fish. 



Although in many countries, and more particularly in those 

 situated in the tropics, fresh-water fishes provide a valuable 

 source of food supply, it is the marine fishes that form the bulk 

 of the food of mankind. In America, however, the fisheries of 

 the Great Lakes are of considerable economic importance, 

 the more valuable kinds offish including the White-fish (Ciscoes 

 and Lake Herrings), Pike, Perch, and Carp; and the river 

 fisheries may be of some local importance. As far as the 

 British Isles are concerned, apart from the Salmon and Eel, 

 which are not exclusively fresh-water, the fishes of the lakes 

 and rivers are quite unimportant as a source of food supply. 

 The fresh- water area of England and Wales is only about three 

 hundred and forty square miles, and the annual production of 

 fish has been estimated as two thousand tons, a very small 

 figure when compared with the seven hundred thousand odd 

 tons yielded by the sea-fisheries. The total stocks of Trout 

 and coarse fish of all kinds in England and Wales are believed 

 to be in the neighbourhood of eight thousand tons, so that, in 

 the words of the report published by the Departmental Com- 

 mittee set up by the President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries during the War, "the expenditure of public money 

 on the development of our inland fisheries for Trout and coarse 

 fish only in order to increase the food supply can hardly be 

 justified." 



There exists a regular market for fresh- water fishes in London 

 and other large cities, but this amounts to only a few hundred 

 tons each year. It is maintained chiefly by the importation 

 of fishes from Holland, where, as in other parts of the continent 

 of Europe, the cultivation of Carp and other coarse fishes for 

 the table is a flourishing and well-organised industry. The 

 supplies marketed in this country are bought largely by the 

 foreign population and the Jewish community, and there seems 

 to be a deep-rooted prejudice among our own people to the 

 use of these fresh-water fishes as food. The chief objection lies 

 in the muddy or weedy flavour which often permeates the 

 whole flesh, but experiments have shown that this is readily 

 overcome by special methods of cooking. As far as nutritive 

 value and digestibility are concerned, they do not diflfer over- 



