CHAPTER XII 

 FISHING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 



Possibilities of the Mediterranean fisheries Migration of the anchovy 

 Shooting the seine for anchovies The moored net Some of its 

 occupants The fisherman's friends and enemies Sharks Saw- 

 fish and sword-fish The tunny Setting the nets Slaughtering 

 the catch Another Sicilian industry Line-fishing. 



A SEA that is over two thousand miles long and con- 

 siderably more than a million square miles in 

 extent, that never experiences a temperature of 

 less than 50 F., and scarcely knows the meaning of tides ; 

 above all, that abounds in fish of every description, as 

 well as turtles, sponge, coral, and amber, sounds like a 

 fisherman's Elysium ; and such, in the hands of more 

 energetic people than the North Africans and the 

 Southern Europeans, it might be. Unfortunately the 

 Mediterranean washes the coasts of nations that, for the 

 more part, have ceased to believe much in hard work ; 

 and even our own poor Irish fisheries are better managed 

 and relatively more productive than theirs. Exceptions 

 must be made in the case of France, and of Austria, 

 which has her Adriatic fishing navy of twelve thousand 

 men; also in that of the East Mediterranean sponge- 

 fishers, of whom more anon. 



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