CHAPTER IV 

 VALUE OF NORTH SEA FISHERIES 



THE area of the North Sea is about 

 150,000 square miles, or rather 

 more than that of the British Isles. 

 It contains the richest fishing banks 

 in the world. The Baltic, with rather 

 less than this area, is not of much 

 value for fishing : its waters are too 

 brackish to be suitable for fish breeding 

 on a large scale; and although there 

 are good quantities of herrings, which 

 being of the pilchard, sprat, anchovy, 

 and shad family can exist in water of 

 less salinity much better than the average 

 salt-water fish, there is not much else to 

 make fishing in those areas a profitable 

 industry. We can therefore exclude this 

 inland water in our inquiry on the value 

 and possibilities of the North Sea Fisheries. 

 If we include the fishing banks of Iceland, 



