Market Whimsies 



there were the fish on the deck. Yet, from the beginning, he 

 knew it was not as simple as that. 



His reading soon showed him that there were almost twenty 

 five thousand kinds of fish in the world. A gi-eat number of them 

 lived in fresh water. But even at that, there must have been over 

 ten thousand different kinds in the sea. Yet, when he went 

 round the market, it was always the same small collection of spec- 

 ies he saw on the concrete. These were, indeed, the ones that 

 were commonest in the North Sea and the Eastern Atlantic - yet 

 not quite. Fish were not unloaded dead in anything like the same 

 proportion of species to species as they were found alive in the 

 water. Of the many thousands, under twenty individuals were 

 common on a British dining table; and it was this quantity he 

 found in the market. 



A few trips and he knew why. These were the species that fet- 

 ched the best prices. So the ships went out to find them. They 

 searched for them. He never forgot the very first haul that came 

 aboard on his first commercial trip. It was immense, and had to 

 be hoisted aboard in two bags. The flappers of the net were cut. 

 The vessel steamed a few turns astern so that some of the catch 

 streamed forwards out of the cod-end into the belly. The cod-end 

 was then hauled aboard, emptied, tied, and again thrown over the 

 side to collect the rest of the take. Jan had felt very pleased with 

 himself and wdth fortune. But the skipper had merely grunted: 

 'Bloody dogs. We'd better get to hell out of this.' And most of 

 that catch had been dumped. Dogfish did not fetch decent prices. 



It had been luck; though, at the time, Jan would have sworn 

 that it had been bad luck. He had been taught by this first haul 

 that fishing was not a matter of hit or miss. Not a simple matter 

 in any case. Since fish left no trace on the surface there were natu- 

 rally a large number of misses, but, considering the size of the sea 

 and the frequency of absence of the commercial species, there 

 were far too many hits for it to be an accident. Somehow or other 

 the fishermen managed to keep on the trailof what they were after. 

 Without being able to see them, with no sound from under water 



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