CHAPTER III 



NORTH SEA IN RELATION TO 

 ITS FISHERIES 



THE North Sea proper is a huge 

 bay, for, with the exception of its 

 northern opening, it is almost en- 

 tirely surrounded by land. Although on 

 the whole extremely shallow, it contains 

 very few islands. Its greatest depth is in 

 the north; where, off the Norwegian coast, 

 200 fathoms is the average, and depths of 

 300 and 400 fathoms are quite common. 

 South of this deep channel, which runs 

 into the Skagerack and forms the entry 

 .to the Baltic, the level gradually rises, 

 and nowhere else is the depth more 

 than 100 fathoms ; farther south the 

 bottom is still shallower, until on the 

 Dogger Bank soundings show only 8 to 

 15 fathoms; so that if a church were 

 situated in the middle of the North Sea 



4 



