xxii BRITISH FISHERIES 



immemorial fishermen have employed apparatus 

 which to-day may be seen in use on our coasts. 

 It is easy to trace the causes of the few changes in 

 the nature of the methods, and of the still greater 

 change in the magnitude of the industry. Up 

 to the time of railways, there was no stimulus 

 to change ; the difficulty of transport of such a 

 perishable article as fish, and the slow growth of 

 the population, kept the industry within narrow 

 limits. Fish were caught for consumption by the 

 fishing population itself, and for sale or exchange 

 in the narrow strip of coast country within easy 

 access of the sea. Fishing was therefore confined 

 to a somewhat narrow zone of sea round the coast. 

 But railway transport increased the market 

 enormously, and with the increased demand larger 

 boats began to be employed. Finally, steam power 

 was introduced into the fishing vessels themselves, 

 and ice was used to preserve the catches of fish 

 made. These changes increased enormously the 

 area of exploitation, and the quantity of the catch. 

 I can give here only a very summary account of 

 the various methods employed in sea-fishing, and 

 such an account will not relieve the conscientious 

 reader of the necessity for consulting other sources 

 of information on this part of our subject. 1 One 



1 A complete account of the methods of fishing practised round 

 the coasts of the United Kingdom has yet to be written. The 

 following works should, however, be consulted : 



E. W. H. Holdsworth, Deep-sea Fishing and Fishing Boats. 



