MUSSEL BAIT — SUPPLY AND DEMAND 3 



the trawling industry was first established in the 

 North Sea, the fish of the Dogger Banks and 

 Silver Pits were regarded as capable of furnishing 

 an inexhaustible supply, since they could collect 

 from the vast area of unexplored sea-bottom 

 reaching to the shores of the Netherlands and 

 Norway and open to the endless Arctic. The 

 fishermen of Grimsby and Lowestoft know now 

 that the constant and much increased fishing has 

 made an appalling difference on the supply of 

 both flat and round fish. The fishermen of 

 Scotland know, in the same way, that constant 

 and unregulated fishing for mussels has brought 

 about the present state of decay which we all 

 deplore. 



The evidence given before the Mussel Com- 

 mission, by 162 individuals more or less directly 

 interested in the supply of mussels, most clearly 

 brought out the fact that there was a dearth of 

 bait ; showed indeed that the vast majority had 

 suffered keenly from the high price necessarily 

 paid for transported or imported shell-fish. 



The fishermen on the coasts of Banffshire, 

 Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire, and Berwickshire 

 especially have suffered in this way. Small or 

 depleted beds existing in these counties supply 



