APPENDIX XIII. 



ARE THE FISH IN THE SEA DIMINISHING? 



Extract from Bertram's Harvest of the Sea, Chap. XI. 



THE idea of a slowly but surely diminishing supply of 

 fish is no doubt alarming, for the public have hitherto 

 believed so devoutly in the frequently quoted proverb of 

 " more fish in the sea than ever came out of it," that it has 

 never, except by a discerning few, been thought possible 

 to overfish ; and, consequently, while endeavoring to sup- 

 ply the constantly increasing demand, it has never suffi- 

 ciently been brought home to the public mind that it is 

 possible to reduce the breeding stock of our best kinds of 

 sea fish to such an extent as may render it difficult to re- 

 populate those exhausted ocean colonies which in years 

 gone by yielded, as we have been often told, such miracu- 

 lous draughts. It is worthy of being noticed that most 

 of our public writers who venture to treat the subject of 

 the fisheries proceed at once to argue that the supply of 

 fish is unlimited, and that the sea is a gigantic fish-pre- 

 serve into which man requires but to dip his net to obtain 

 at all times an enormous amount of wholesome and nutri- 

 tious food. 



I would be glad to believe in these general statements 

 regarding our food fisheries, were I not convinced, from 

 personal inquiry, that they are a mere coinage of the brain. 



There are doubtless plenty of fish still in the sea, but 

 the trouble of capturing them increases daily, and the in- 

 struments of capture have to be yearly augmented, indi- 

 cating but too clearly to all who have studied the subject 



