( xxxiii ) 



INTRODUCTION. 



FISHING and Fishermen are subjects which peculiarly commend themselves to 

 those who are interested rather in the foundations than in the surface of 

 society, for they are by their very nature unobtrusive and remote from view. 

 No huge chimneys poison the air as a necessary accompaniment to their 

 labours ; no great cities rise up to contain their manufactures ; no gigantic 

 hoardings advertise their importance. Fishermen do not meet us at every 

 turn like agricultural labourers in the country, or the tradesmen and mechanics 

 in the cities ; nor, except in the presence of a shop here and there, does their 

 occupation leave the slightest perceptible trace in a provincial or a metro- 

 politan town. As for the fish themselves, they not unnaturally prefer the 

 quiet depths of the ocean to the most luxurious slab of a fishmonger's shop, 

 or the most delicate attentions of a west-end cook. Everything connected 

 with the industry is, in fact, almost wholly concealed from the view of those 

 not directly employed in carrying it on. Its principal scene of maintenance 

 is on the desolate ocean, out of sight for the most part, not merely of the 

 dwellers upon the shore, but even of the passing ships which traverse the 

 watery wastes. The towns and villages which its pursuers inhabit are 

 frequented by few except the masters and the workmen of the craft ; the 

 markets are rare, and their surroundings by no means inviting ; and even the 

 shops receive but passing notice or recognition. To many persons all that 

 represents the fisherman's craft consists of a single dish in the course of an 

 elaborate dinner ; and not many years have elapsed since the habitual use of 

 fish, except on festive occasions, was considered in a middle-class household as 

 a symptom of extravagance rather than of thrift. And yet how vast an 

 interest is overlooked by so superficial a view will be evident upon very slight 

 reflection. For in fact neither hunting, nor shooting, nor agriculture itself, 

 nor any mode whatsoever of obtaining the necessaries of existence for the 

 mouths which clamour for them can vie with this ancient and wide-spread 

 industry. Fishing, so far as the prime object of all labour, the sustentation 

 of human life, is concerned, is an occupation which claims one entire element 

 of the terraqueous globe for its undisputed province. There is scarcely a 

 country throughout the world, from Greenland to Carpentaria, and ..from 

 America to Japan, to the shores of which the fishing-boat is a stranger. Nor 

 does this statement by any means exhaust the whole case. Not in the sea 

 alone can this interesting and remunerative occupation be pursued with 

 advantage, for lakes and rivers in every land teem with superabundant 

 resources prodigal of food and wealth. However much therefore the increase 

 and multiplicity of devices for the capture of fish may have escaped general 

 notice, there can be little wonder that they should have attracted the 

 attention of such as give their minds to the furtherance of the welfare of their 

 countrymen, and more particularly to the development of such resources and 



