42 THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 



Bristol Channel, while Dover, Ramsgate, Hastings, Rye, 

 and other ports all contribute their trawlers to the English 

 Channel. 



But the main home of trawling at the present time is to 

 be found in the ports which fringe the North Sea, and it is 

 no exaggeration to say that these ports form the most 

 important fishing stations, and the North Sea the most 

 productive fishery, in the world. Most people have some 

 acquaintance with the shape of the North Sea. It is com- 

 paratively small, it is shallow, and it is surrounded on 

 three sides by the different countries of Europe which are 

 watered by large rivers. All these conditions are favour- 

 able for the production of fish of a high quality. The 

 rivers bring down from the adjacent land a vast quantity 

 of minute life which forms the food of young fish ; the 

 sandy plateaux which fringe the shores are the nurseries 

 for the fry ; while the deeper depressions, which are to be 

 found here and there in the bottom of the sea, afford shelter 

 for the mature fish in cold and stormy weather. The gulf 

 stream is unable to force its way into the basin of this sea, 

 and its waters are consequently colder than those of the 

 Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea. Its colder waters, though 

 unfavourable for mackerel and a few other fish, improve 

 the quality as food of its cod, its haddock, and its other 

 habitants. 



The bottom of the sea resembles the surface of the land. 

 It is an undulating pasture intersected by valleys- in some 

 places and hills in others. The submarine slopes and 

 depressions in the North Sea are not indeed very great. 

 The hills and valleys, like those of Eastern England, are of 

 moderate height and depth, and there are few if any places 

 in it, south of the 55th parallel, which are more than 

 300 feet deep. Just as the shepherd drives his flocks in 



