FUTURE POSSIBILITIES 87 



the rural districts the people eat no fish 

 whatever, for by the time it reaches the 

 consumer its good appearance is gone and 

 its flavour is also lost. A great pro- 

 portion of people are so little used to fish 

 that they do not know the method of 

 preparing if for consumption. The interior 

 population of Germany at one time did 

 not taste fish from one year to another. 

 Then the Government taught the people 

 how to prepare and cook the commodity, 

 and in a decade the use of fresh fish became 

 fairly general. 



Thirty years ago, when steam trawlers 

 were first introduced, the value of fish 

 taken from the North Sea and adjacent 

 areas and landed in the different countries 

 was probably under 10,000,000 at the 

 port of landing ; in 1913 the value was 

 approximately 30,000,000. Does this in- 

 crease, which is nearly all by net, suggest 

 trawling to be a failure ? And . yet it is 

 probable that the fisheries are still in their 

 infancy. The demand for this cheap 

 article of food will be very much increased 

 when cereals and meat are so much dearer ; 

 and when transportation and distribution 



