APPENDIX II 



THE FISHING GROUNDS 



(See Maps : " Fishing Grounds of the British Islands " and " West 

 Coast of Europe."} 



THE area exploited by the fishermen of the British Islands extends 

 to Iceland on the north, and to the coast of Spain and Portugal on the 

 south, while to the westward it is limited by the deep basin of the 

 Atlantic. Drift-net fishing in the open sea is unaffected by the depth of 

 the water or the nature of the bottom, and the distance from the coast 

 to which it is extended depends, therefore, on the presence of the fish 

 in sufficient abundance, and the demand or markets that can be 

 supplied. In line and trawl fishing, on the other hand, the depth and 

 character of the bottom are of great importance. 



The loo-fathom line passes outside the British Islands, bounding a 

 plateau on which all these islands, including the Hebrides, the Shet- 

 lands, and the Orkneys, are situated. But the Faroe Islands and 

 Rockall lie beyond it. This line runs parallel to the coast of Portugal 

 and Spain at a very short distance off, along the west coast of France it 

 begins to diverge farther from the land ; it passes outside the entrances 

 of the English Channel and St. George's Channel at a considerable 

 distance, and then runs along the west of Ireland and the Hebrides. 

 Passing to the east, round the north of the Shetland Isles, it ap- 

 proaches the coast of Norway, and then bends round to the south-east, 

 bounding a deep channel which runs close to the southern coast of 

 Norway into the Skager Rack. Around the coast of Iceland and the 

 Faroe Islands the loo-fathom line is nowhere at a great distance, so that 

 the extent of shallow water is confined within narrow limits on the shores 

 of these islands. Beyond the loo-fathom line the slope of the bottom is 

 everywhere rather rapid, 'descending on the west to the basin of the 

 Atlantic, on the north to that of the Arctic Ocean. 



