80 FISHERIES OF THE NORTH SEA 



be scarce and dear ; consequently every 

 possible attention is now being given to the. 

 cultivation of both fertile and waste lands." 

 Stern necessity will compel the world to 

 develop waste places. Why not cultivate 

 the sea? Why confine* ourselves to agri- 

 culture when the possibilities of aquiculture 

 are so apparent and of such vital import- 

 ance ? Here is a harvest which has hardly 

 been touched as yet. Wheat is grown on 

 the top of the soil only, the harvest comes 

 only once a year ; fish is found not only on 

 the ocean meadows, but often in the surface 

 waters as well ; the ground is harvested not 

 once a year, but often once a week. The 

 meat yield of our fishing banks is very much 

 more than the meat yield obtained from our 

 most fertile pasture land. If we continue 

 to neglect this splendid heritage, other nations 

 will be there before us and reap the first 

 benefits. Already the United States spend 

 over a million pounds per annum in scien- 

 tifically fostering the industry by the use 

 of hatcheries ; the British Government do 

 not spend one-twentieth this sum on our 

 entire fisheries. 



In 1913,1,200,000 tons of fisti were landed 



