FISHING IMPLEMENTS MODE OF CAPTURE. 43 



may be called the lip of the basin ; the greater part 

 of the North Sea is practically unfished. If the 

 North Sea were divided into squares of moderate 

 size, and each square dredged and netted at different 

 depths each month of the year, careful note being 

 made of every fact, the configuration and the char- 

 acter of the bottom, its temperature, vegetable life, 

 and the fish frequenting its waters at the time, 

 whether at the bottom or at different depths ; the 

 stomach of the fish carefully examined to see what 

 it was feeding on when caught, a mass of facts would 

 be gained which would undoubtedly lead to such an 

 increase of wealth, in comparison with which our 

 present catch would seem but a trifle. The enemies 

 of our marine wealth, instead of being viewed as 

 friendly pilots showing us where we could get a bite, 

 would be regarded as vermin, and treated accord- 

 ingly. If such an investigation of the North Sea 

 were thought to be too great an undertaking for a 

 single Government, it is surely within the powers of 

 diplomacy to arrange with other countries to share 

 the glory of opening up such a grand source of 

 wealth to each, whose fishermen now reap less than 

 a tithe of the harvest at present hidden from them 

 in the deeper recesses and secret channels of the 

 North Sea. 



