EXTENT OF BRITISH FISHERIES 43 



Like any other industry, and because the life- 

 history of the inhabitants of the sea is still so obscure 

 perhaps more than any other industry, sea-fishing 

 is liable to arbitrary fluctuations. There was, for 

 instance, a partial failure in the herring-fishery in the 

 summer of 1906 on the north and north-east of the 

 Shetlands. The total number of crans landed was 

 43 8 >95o, as against 632,000 in 1905, a record year; and 

 some of the Shetlanders have been hard put to it to 

 live. Such a failure sets thinking those whose live- 

 lihood is threatened ; but fishermen, although keen 

 observers in what immediately concerns them, are 

 not widely educated men, and cannot take into 

 account in estimating causes, the many factors of the 

 problems, some of which usually escape even the 

 most talented of marine biologists. Fishermen seek 

 a sign, usually an obvious one ; in the present case, 

 the bad season was attributed to the presence of 

 certain Norwegian whaling companies, which a few 

 years ago established themselves in the Shetlands 

 and are destroying the common rorqual, the lesser 

 rorqual, Sibbald's rorqual, the cachalot, the hump- 

 backed whale, and more rarely the Atlantic right- 

 whale. These are killed for their blubber ; the flesh 

 is made into sausages, largely consumed in Central 

 Europe ; and the bones are ground up for manure. 



It is, however, doubtful if whaling is in any way 

 responsible for the scarcity of the herrings. According 

 to the evidence collected by Mr. Donald Crawford's 

 Committee on this subject in 1904, it would appear 

 that practically the only point on which the fishermen 

 were then agreed was that the spouting of the whales 

 was often a good guide as to the position of the 

 herring-shoals. But the whales do not bring the 

 herrings ; and the fishermen are not even agreed that 

 they serve to concentrate them. It is probable that 

 the general migrations and shoaling habits of the 



