INTRODUCTION 13 



industry which is to be regretted, yet, on the whole, 

 the developments of the past forty years have 

 undoubtedly transformed the fishing industry into a 

 very efficient and valuable national asset. Individually, 

 the present-day steam fisherman is very much inferior 

 to his sailing predecessor. The centralization of the 

 industry in a few big ports, although undoubtedly making 

 for much greater efficiency, bears hardly on the type of 

 the old class of expert fishermen ; but these are the 

 almost inevitable consequences of such a transition. 



But what is the present condition of the industry, and 

 what is its future likely to be ? The prosperity of the 

 inshore fisherman, as well as that of his offshore rival, is 

 vitally important to the welfare of this country ; there 

 should be room and opportunity enough for both. 

 The inshore fisherman, protected by legislation and 

 secured by well-organized co-operation, can increase 

 very considerably the amount of our available home- 

 grown food supply. The superior power and equip- 

 ment of the big steam trawlers and drifters, properly 

 utilized and encouraged, should be one of the most 

 valuable industrial assets of the State. We are not a 

 great food-producing nation ; on the contrary, in the 

 years before the war, we actually imported more than 

 40 per cent of our total food requirements. We are 

 surrounded by seas that teem with every form of 

 edible fish. British enterprise has built up a fishing 

 industry which is the greatest and most efficient in 

 the world. In 1914, our fishing boats were practically 

 equal in numbers and equipment to those of all the 

 other countries in North-West Europe put together. 

 Nearly 70 per cent of the fishing boats in the North Sea 

 were British. The total produce of our sea fisheries has 

 nearly doubled since the beginning of the century. 

 The annual catch in the last few years before the war 



