222 CONSUMPTION 



pace with the consumption. The answer to this question has a 

 very distant bearing upon the subject of animal food supplies in 

 relation to consumption. 



It is known that sea-fisheries, and still more fresh- water fisheries, 

 show signs of exhaustion when modern methods of fishing are 

 applied without restriction. Moreover, where, as in parts of Europe 

 and North America, manufacturing centres, or even towns without 

 manufactures, grow up on the river banks, river pollution often 

 sets in, causing destruction to the fish in these streams. The 

 general conclusion appears to be that, unless care is taken in the 

 protection of fisheries, their yields commence sooner or later to 

 diminish. The only exception to this rule is found in the deep-sea 

 fisheries, where the field is naturally a very wide one in proportion 

 to the extent of the fishing operations. Owing, however, to the 

 greater difficulties and expense of fishing in deep waters and the 

 limited range of varieties of fish obtained in them, the bulk of the 

 world's supplies of sea-fish are caught in the shallower waters of 

 the continental shelves. 1 



The regulation of fisheries which is possible in inland waters and in 

 the territorial waters round the coasts of the various countries, be- 

 comes almost possible without international agreement in the 

 ordinary fishing grounds some distance from the land. The perman- 

 ent yield of such fisheries for the world at large could no doubt be 

 increased by the enforcement of proper restrictions upon fishngi 

 fleets, but so far little has been done in this direction ; the result 

 is that fish are becoming less plentiful in the more accessible waters 

 round the North- Western European coasts, and fishing fleets have 

 constantly to travel further from their ports in search of catches, 

 though this might happen to some extent under the present exten- 

 sive fishing operations, no matter how well regulated. 



With a view to the preservation and extension of fresh-water 

 fisheries the governments of most countries have established con- 

 trolling authorities with apparently good results. Steps have been 

 taken to regulate the methods of fishing, to prevent avoidable 

 pollution of rivers and lakes, and, what is of great promise for the 

 future, to establish hatcheries and other means of increasing the 

 variety and quantity of the fish available for food from these sources. 

 Large private societies in certain countries, notably in Germany, 

 assisted by government subventions, are actively engaged in the 

 work of increasing the supplies of fish in the streams and lakes. 

 An American authority in this connection has described the inland 

 fisheries of the United States as having passed through three stages ; 

 first, that of abundant natural supplies ; second, that of compara- 

 tive exhaustion through unrestricted fishing and improper care of 

 fisheries ; and third (the existing stage) of increasing supplies due 

 to suitable regulation and artificial stocking. 



1 For a clear account of the sea-fisheries of North- Western Europe, and 

 especially those drawn upon by the British Isles, see Geog. Journal, 1915, 

 pp. 472-90 



