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BRITISH FISHERIES 



ferred the superintendence of the fisheries to the 

 Commissioners of Public Works, and gave this 

 body almost absolute powers to make by-laws for 

 the regulation of methods of fishing, both in the sea 

 and in inland waters. Whether or not the creation 

 of this authority had any effect on the develop- 

 ment of the fisheries is uncertain, but at any rate 

 the industry now began to improve a little. 



Then came the great potato famine of 1847. 

 Whatever benefit the legislation I have alluded to 

 may have had on the fisheries was nullified entirely 

 by this great calamity, and the Irish fishing 

 industry received a shock from which it has never 

 recovered. The immediate effect of the famine 

 may be summarised in the following table 1 : 



1 Report of the Royal Commission on the Sea-fisheries of the United 

 Kingdom, 1866. 



