282 SEA FISHERIES 



and 1860 they increased by .880,000 : from 440,000 

 in 1810 to 1,320,000 in 1860. Eight years later they 

 had doubled ; in 1875 they had reached 2,980,000 ; 

 in 1880 3,480,000 ; 4n 1890 4,280,000. Then they 

 declined somewhat, but in 1902 rose once again to 

 4,160,000, and to-day amount to some 4,800,000. 

 In short, the fisheries of France are of nearly the 

 same market value as those of Japan or Canada. 

 They represent a capital of 4,000,000 ; 1,000,000 

 representing gear, the rest the boats. Some ports 

 are prospering, as Boulogne, Fecamp, and Arcachon ; 

 some are stagnating, as Calais, 1 Saint-Malo, Paimpol, 

 Douarnenez, Les Sables, &c.; still more are in a state 

 of decadence, as Dunkirk, Dieppe, Honfleur. In the 

 Boulogne district, which includes the five ports of 

 Boulogne, Etaples, Le Portel, Equihen, and Audresselles, 

 the value of the fisheries has increased by 400,000 

 between 1896 and 1906. The annual share of Boulogne 

 in the fisheries of France is nearly one-fifth 19 per cent., 

 or 960,000 ; almost a million. Fecamp makes 320,000 

 to 360,000, Arcachon 280,000 to 320,000. 



II 



I shall not attempt to give, in a few pages, any 

 account of the condition of the French fisheries, for 

 I should be attempting the impossible ; but I should 



880,000; mackerel, 200,000; tunny, 240,000; hand-seining, 

 fishponds, trap-nets, &c. flat-fish, fish caught in the beam-trawl 

 and especially in the otter-trawl (steam trawls) hake, gurnards, 

 codling, &c,, 2,000,000 ; oysters, 80,000 ; mussels, 80,000 ; other 

 shell-fish, 80,000 ; shrimps and prawns, 60,000. Marine manures, 

 iodine, &c., yield about 240,000. 



1 There is now (December, 1910) a perceptible recovery of 

 business in this port 



