CHAPTER VII 

 THE EVOLUTION OF THE FRENCH FISHERIES 



I. History of the steam fishing boat Sail versus steam The naval 

 inscripts and the capitalists. II. The defence of steam ; its 

 triumph. III. History of the motor-boat as applied to fishery 

 Its progress abroad and in France The old types of boats and 

 motors New types. IV. Alcohol or petrol ? The two prin- 

 ciples criticised. V. The principal consequences of mechanical 

 fishery. VI. The steam-trawling crisis. 



THE crisis of steam-trawling and of mechanical gear in 

 general is not yet over. It has only changed its aspect. 

 The late struggle to perfect the methods of fishery is 

 succeeded by the struggle to give the new methods the 

 fullest scope. In this chapter I will consider both 

 aspects of the question. 1 



I 



The steam fishing boat had its birth in France, about 

 the year 1865. At that period the " Ocean Fisheries Com- 

 pany" (Societe des Pecheries de I' Ocean) built two small 

 trawlers. In 1872 M. Joseph Huret, of Boulogne, built the 

 Stuart, a wooden vessel equipped for the herring and 

 mackerel fishery. This vessel was 63 feet in length. 

 Although the experiment was not successful, a second 

 trawler was launched seven years later, the Eurvin, an iron 



1 A large part of this chapter appeared in the Ligue maritime 

 franfaise (March-April, 1909; May-June, 1910). 



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