FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 185 



It is curious that with all the encouragement given to the 

 fisheries of foreign countries the important fisheries carried 

 on round the Isle of Man were forgotten. It was not till The Isle of 

 1772 that fish from the Isle of Man were exempted from 

 the prohibition against " foreign " fish, but even then they 

 were subject to import duty for fourteen years afterwards. 

 It was not till the export bounty system had begun to make 

 its effects felt, in a diminished supply of fish to the home 

 markets, that the value of a source of supply so near home 

 as the Irish Sea began to be fully appreciated. 



This is not the place to enter into a full consideration of Effect of 

 the effects which the series of laws passed for the " en- bounties on 



couragement " of the fishing industry in this country had 



upon the condition and prospects of one region at least Newfound- 



whose valuable store of cod, salmon, and other fish, as well land - 



as seals, attracted the attention of European fishermen very 



soon after its discovery ; but this sketch of the history of 



the relations of the State towards fish and fisheries would 



hardly be complete without some reference to the laws 



made to encourage our fishermen to go to the shores of 



Newfoundland, and to the subsequent laws which were 



found necessary to enforce their return to this country. 



The reference is useful as another instance of the far-reach- 



ing effects of, and the remote causes affecting, fishery legis- 



lation. The national spirit of enterprise was the origin of 



our interest in the Newfoundland fisheries. The authority 



given by 10 & 1 1 Wm. III. c. 25 to the surrogate " admirals " 



and " vice-admirals " of the coast of the island, and the 



exemption from duty of goods imported thence, appealed at 



once to the ruling and to the trading instincts of British sea- 



men ; and it only needed the bounty offered by 15 Geo. III. 



c. 3 1 to make the Newfoundland fisheries, with their extra- 



ordinary abundance, a favourite resort. But the island and 



