206 SEA FISHERIES 



in the Mediterranean-r-mere naked beaches, on which the 

 boatmen haul up their heavy boats, as do the Norwegians 

 on the portages at the head of their fjords. Consider 

 Gujan-Mestras, in the basin of Arcachon ; there the 

 fishermen themselves have made a tiny harbour of 

 wood and beaten earth in the shelter of a stone jetty. 

 Douarnenez has a long, wide breakwater ; Camaret, a 

 dock ; Arcachon, iron piers ; Fecamp and Boulogne 

 have spacious inner harbours, docks, tidal gates, and 

 graving slips. 



In England fishing is centralised in a small number of 

 large ports ; in France it is dispersed over a large number 

 of small ports. England has Grimsby and France Bou- 

 logne. In 1905 the best year it has ever known 

 Boulogne gained from its fisheries a profit of nearly 

 .900,000, while the leading British port netted over 

 .2,400,000. This difference, great as it is, would be a 

 matter of little importance if the curve of production 

 of the French fishing ports were regular. But this curve 

 is anything but regular ; at the very outset it falls abruptly 

 to the neighbourhood of the abscissae, and continues 

 almost in a straight line. Fecamp follows Boulogne at 

 a very great distance; Arcachon comes shortly after- 

 wards. Past Arcachon we find a lamentable monotony, 

 the obvious result of the dispersion of effort. If in place 

 of considering the total tonnage we consider the tonnage 

 of steam trawlers only, we shall find the fall is still more 

 abrupt. Boulogne is still first with 21,112 tons; Arca- 

 chon comes second with 8,617 tons; La Rochelle third 

 with 4,468 tons. Then follows a dreary list : Dieppe, 

 Lorient, F6camp, Gravelines, Saint- Jean de Luz, Croisic, 

 TrSport, Calais, Havre, Caen, &c. Nevertheless, certain 

 ports Lorient and Havre, to mention only two are 

 making praiseworthy efforts. Ask a tourist who has 



