FISHING NATIONS AND THE FISHERIES 279 



The dividends oscillate between 8 per cent, and 12 per 

 cent. The company owns a depot for fitting-out at 

 Huelva and branches at Basle and Budapest. 



The value of the fish taken in the German Baltic 

 amounts to ^300,000 or ^350,000 ; the species include 

 plaice, gurnard, herring, salmon, turbot, flounders, and 

 sprats, which find their way to the markets of Dantzig, 

 Konigsberg, and especially Stettin. In Denmark, the 

 motor-boat and the plaice are triumphant. 1 In Holland, 

 the great port of Ijmuiden has absorbed the trade in 

 fresh fish. During the last twelve years twenty trawler 

 companies have been established there, and the annual 

 harvest exceeds 40,000 tons. 2 Not far from Ijmuiden, 

 Ostend makes no progress, owing to her poor equipment. 

 Despite an increase in tonnage, the sales have diminished 

 by 4 per cent, in less than a year. 



The 25,000 fishing vessels of Norway fish the coastal 

 waters. The great harbour of Aalesund equips 90 

 steamers and 330 motor-boats, and is a great centre 

 of the dried cod or stock-fish trade : cod from the 

 Lofodens, cod from the North Sea, cod from the 

 Arctic Ocean. Bergen and Stavanger send out 3,000 

 to 4,000 undecked boats and only 50 steamers. They 

 catch and prepare sprats, sold as Norwegian anchovies 

 and sardines. Herring are caught all along the Nor- 

 wegian coast. There are large fish markets especially 

 for salmon in all the coast towns, from Arendal in the 

 south to Vadso in the north at Stavanger, Bergen, 

 Christiansund, Trondhjem, Tromso, Hammerfest. From 

 1899 to I 95 the Norwegian fisheries remained stationary, 



* See pp. 124, 299, 300. 



a The French Consul informs us that this year the fisheries of 

 Holland have remained stationary. But the herring fishery yielded 

 804,120 barrels as against 685,662 in the previous year. 



