60 FISHERIES OF THE NORTH SEA 



the banks is in a decreasing ratio. The 

 cessation of. fishing caused by the war will, 

 of course, correct this tendency in some 

 measure. Before the war period, however, 

 ships were compelled, in search of better 

 cargoes, to go farther and farther away, 

 to Faroe, Iceland, and the White Sea. A 

 possibility of improving supplies would be 

 to make reservations of known breeding 

 grounds. The British closed the Moray 

 Firth for this purpose, but it was left 

 open to other nations, and thus the 

 incomplete nature of the protection 

 totally defeated its object. To cope 'with 

 this problem properly, it is absolutely 

 necessary for all nations to co-operate. 

 The advantage of an international 

 alliance of control, with wide views and 

 its distant object the ultimate welfare 

 of the industry to all nations, would soon 

 manifest itself. For instance, the coast 

 fjords of Denmark are nursery places for 

 small plaice ; if, instead of exterminating 

 supplies by marketing immature fish, an 

 arrangement could be made with the Danish 

 fishermen to transplant the small fry to the 

 Dogger Bank where they would quickly 



