12. LONGSHORE FISHERIES 



The typical longshoreman uses nothing larger 

 than second-class sailing boats, well under fifteen 

 tons, and mostly undecked. He is more or less 

 remote from any of the great fishing ports, with 

 their harbourage for big boats and their established 

 fish-markets, and owing to the smallness of his 

 craft, he is bound as a rule to fish within twenty 

 miles from shore. Hence his name. He pays 

 for help on the share system, and the capital 

 value of his boats and gear seldom exceeds a 

 hundred pounds, hardly ever two hundred. He 

 is, in fact, the small holder of the sea. 

 It is true, as the song says, that 



The husbandman has rent to pay, 

 And seed to purchase every day, 

 But he who ploughs the rolling deeps. 

 Though never sowing, always reaps; 

 The ocean's fields are fair and free, 

 There are no rent days on the sea! 



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