340 SEA FISHERIES 



annually, for which she pays ;i, 140,000, ;i, 000,000 of 

 this being for herring. Denmark alone furnishes the half 

 of this amount ; Holland, about a quarter : Norway, 

 Sweden, and Belgium provide the rest. The importation 

 of fresh herring (iced) increases from year to year. 

 From 40,000 tons in 1901 it has increased to 94,000 in 

 1907, in spite of the activity of the fourteen companies 

 of Emden, Leer, Bremerhaven, Vegesk, Nordenham, 

 Brake, and Gluckstadt, which have trebled their pro- 

 ductiveness in ten years. 



Switzerland buys the greater portion of her fish from 

 Holland, and the rest from France, Belgium, England, 

 and Germany. The total represents a value of ^180,000 

 a year. Belgium imports nearly .40,000 worth of fish 

 from France, England, and Holland. These same 

 countries export to Russia more than ,160,000 worth 

 of fish. " It must be remembered," says M. Roy, and 

 rightly, "that these figures can only be approximate. 

 Part of the fish imported by Germany is re-exported to 

 Switzerland or Belgium. Inversely, England, which is 

 by far the first country on the North Sea, or indeed 

 in the world, in the matter of exporting fresh fish 

 this exportation amounting to more than .1,600,000 

 annually also imports a by no means negligible 

 quantity. Thus in 1906 the North Sea provided the 

 British Isles with " fish other than herring " to the extent 

 of 6,000 tons from Holland, Norway, Denmark, France, 

 Belgium, and Germany, its value being .420,000. " In 

 the matter of herring the case is very different. During 

 a whole season, from January to March, the herring 

 caught on the English coast are scanty in numbers and 

 poor in quality. Consequently the factories of certain 

 of the English ports have to resort to the Scandinavian 

 countries, which are at this time at the height of their 



