THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS 607 



money, brandy, tobacco, biscuits, and other articles ; and they 

 were allowed to dry their nets, and even sometimes to salt 

 their herrings, on shore for a small payment. 1 They were thus 

 intimately associated with the native fishermen along the coast, 

 and they carried on their fishery near the shore in the waters 

 which were mostly used by the natives. 



In the English Channel disputes between British and French 

 fishermen were still more frequent and acrimonious. British 

 naval supremacy during the long war had given a monopoly 

 of the fisheries to the people of the English coast, but after 

 peace was concluded French fishermen swarmed in the Channel, 

 and began to fish along the English shores. Complaints be- 

 came rife of the decadence of the English fisheries, owing to 

 the alleged encroachments of the French and a general diminu- 

 tion in the abundance of fish. In 1833 a Select Committee 

 of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the 

 state of the British Channel fisheries and the laws affecting 

 the fishing trade of England, with a view to their amendment. 

 After taking evidence, the Committee reported that they found 

 those fisheries, and the interests connected with them, to be 

 in a very depressed and declining state ; that the decline 

 had begun with the peace in 1815 ; that the number of fisher- 

 men and boats had diminished; and that the fishermen and 

 their families were indigent. 2 



The principal causes of the depression were found to be 

 the extensive interference and aggressions of the French fisher- 

 men on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, the large quantity 

 of foreign-caught fish illegally imported, and the great decrease 

 and comparative scarcity of fish in the Channel. Large fleets 

 of French fishing vessels from Calais, Boulogne, Dieppe, and 

 other ports were in the habit of fishing along the English 

 coasts, frequently within half a league of the shore, and 

 occasionally nearer, as well as in the bays and shallow waters, 

 " in which," said the Committee, " it is particularly necessary 

 for the preservation of the brood of fish, that such as frequent 

 those waters during the breeding season should not be dis- 



1 Montaignac, op. cit. ; Parl, Papers, Seas. 1837-38 ; Rep. Com. Brit. Herring 

 Fishery, 1834. 



2 Report from the Select Committee on British Channel Fisheries, Parl. Papers, 

 Sess. 1833, No. 676. 



