288 WHERE ARE THE HADDOCKS? [CHAP. vn. 



has ever been a favourite fish, and the quantities of it which 

 are annually consumed are really wonderful. Vast numbers 

 used to be taken in the Firth of Forth, but from recent in- 

 quiries at Newhaven I am led to believe that the supply has 

 considerably decreased of late years, and that the local fisher- 

 men have to proceed to considerable distances in order to pro- 

 cure any quantity. 



In reference to the question, " Where are the had- 

 docks ?" which is asked on another page, it is right to say 

 that this prime fish has more than once become scarce. 

 I have been reminded of a time, in 1790, when three of these 

 fish were sold for 7s. 6d. in the Edinburgh market ; but 

 although there have been from time to time sudden disappear- 

 ances of the haddock from particular fishing-grounds, as in- 

 deed there have been of all fish, that is a different, a totally 

 different matter from what the fisher folk and the public have 

 now to complain off viz. a yearly decreasing supply. Mr. 

 Grieve, of the Cafe Eoyal, Edinburgh, tells me that this sea- 

 son (August 1865), he is paying uinepence each for these fish, 

 and is very glad to get them even at that price. I took part in 

 a newspaper controversy about the scarcity of the haddock, and 

 I found plenty of opponents ready to maintain that there was 

 no scarcity, but that any quantity could be captured. In some 

 degree that is the truth, but what is the hook-power required 

 now to capture, " any quantity," and how long does it take to 

 obtain a given number, as compared with former times, when 

 that fish was supposed to be more plentiful ? Why do we re- 

 quire, for instance, to send to Norway and other distant places 

 for haddocks and other white fish ? the only answer I can 

 imagine is that we cannot get enough at home. As to the 

 general scarcity of white fish, the late Mr. Methuen, the fish- 

 curer, wrote a year or two ago : " This morning I am told 

 that an Edinburgh fishmonger has bought all the cod brought 

 into JSTewhaven at 5s. to 7s. each. I recollect when I cured 



