THE FISHERIES, 55 



those fisheries could be profitably worked would be 

 bounded only by the amount of capital embarked in 

 them. The fisheries of every nation that has culti- 

 vated them have prospered. We might instance 

 those of Holland, Norway, Newfoundland, or even 

 the British sea-coast fisheries; but we shall keep 

 near home, and confine our observations here solely 

 to the latter. From the Report laid before Parlia- 

 ment by the Commissioners of British Fisheries, for 

 the year ending January, 1850, we find that the 

 gross catch of herrings for the year 1849 amounted 

 to one miUioR, one hundred and fifty-one thousand, 

 nine hundred and seventy-nine barrels. The usual 

 value of a barrel of herrings is taken at one pound, 

 British ; so that the cash proceeds may be stated at 

 about £1,100,000 sterhng. The year 1841 was for- 

 merly the standard by Avhich the productiveness of 

 those fisheries was measured; the year 1848, however, 

 surpassed it; the produce of 1848 being 999,345 

 barrels. But the year 1849 has surpassed all i^re- 

 vious years, and will now remain as the standard, 

 until some more productive year shall displace it. 

 The Commissioners state in their Report that this 

 •extraordinary influx of herrings, so much exceeding 

 anything that could be calculated upon, had almost 

 disarranged the trade ; and that but for the exertions 

 and superintendence of the ofi&cers of the Board, and 

 the extraordinary efforts made by them, the fish 

 could not have been cured, nor markets found to 

 oarry off all this produce. In some districts of the 



