84 LOBSTERS. 



haul, which equals 3601b. weight (or say 9 in value) for the 

 week. The pots were hauled thrice daily. During six weeks 

 in the summer 14 boats at Standfast, or Mudeford (at the 

 entrance to Christchurch Harbour, Hants), landed an average 

 of one ton of lobsters daily. This was unusually good.* 

 Another kick one has to give our Government Department 

 is that whilst in the annual report of the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries they give the complete figures of Portugal, 

 France (including Algeria), Denmark, Norway, U.S.A., and 

 Canada, yet to obtain complete statistics of the British Isles 

 one has to spend about 6s. in buying three books (being the 

 annual reports respectively of the English and Welsh, the 

 Scotch, and the Irish Fishery Boards !). However, the 

 figures they give of other countries are even more belated 

 than of our own ; still, they are interesting, and afford an 

 opportunity of forming an idea of the immense number of 

 lobsters in the N. Atlantic, their wide distribution, and value 

 as an article of commerce, as the following figures will show : 



PORTUGAL. 



1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 



10,088 12,804 8,655 9,153 9,800 9,608 



FRANCE (including ALGERIA). 



1904. 1905. 



Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. 



30,598 cwts. 135,507 67,373 cwts. 369,421 



DENMARK. 

 1,609 cwts., 16,197 in 1905. 1,372 cwts., 10,918 in 1906. 



* This year (1909) the lobster fishery has not been so good, and it 

 will be interesting to see whether it is not due to the temperature 

 of the sea being about 2 lower this year upon the average than it 

 was last year, a fact that occurs every odd year (vide Johnstone) 

 owing to the contracted pulsation of the European stream generally 

 (but incorrectly) termed the Gulf Stream. 



