FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



few terrors for many of the fishermen who were left 

 to carry on the fishing industry. There was a good 

 deal of illegal trawling, the spoils of this exciting 

 operation being so great that in not a few cases 

 skippers persisted in taking the risk of discovery 

 and all the penalties it entailed, knowing that if 

 punishment ended with a fine it could be borne with 

 equanimity. Well into the fourth year of war two 

 trawler skippers, at Cupar, Firth of Forth, were 

 each fined £80, with the option of six weeks' im- 

 prisonment, for fishing in a prohibited area on the 

 East coast of Scotland, and at the same time seven 

 other trawler skippers, for the same offence, were 

 each fined £50, with the alternative of one month's 

 imprisonment, the total amount of the penalties 

 being £510. The sum was large, but what it really 

 meant was shown by the statement in court that 

 these skippers had earned £300 daily by these 

 operations. 



Shortly after these remarkable figures were pub- 

 licly given, a trawler's catch, which was landed at 

 a North-Eastern port, made £5,500. On the basis 

 which has been indicated it is not difficult to esti- 

 mate the skipper's share. On the very day when 

 the catch was sold cod was fetching 2/- a pound in 

 shops at a seaside town ; 1/8 a pound had to be paid 

 for haddock, fresh or dried, and 3d. each had to be 

 paid for very small herrings — fish that were no 

 larger than the Spanish sardine. In the same town 

 Newfoundland dried salt cod was to be had for 8d. a 

 pound ; but to the great majority of housewives this 



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