io8 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



people on land. At the same time the fishermen earned 

 far less than the wages paid to miners and other men 

 following dangerous or hazardous employment ashore. 



There is one particular specimen of offal which 

 infests the North Sea grounds, in common with other 

 fishing areas around the coasts, and this is the dogfish. 

 Ingenious attempts have been made to turn his carcase 

 to some useful and profitable purpose ; but so far without 

 success. As an article of food he is despised, perhaps 

 unjustly, and, with the exception of a few localities, he 

 has no commercial value. The only satisfaction the 

 fisherman can get out of association with him is to 

 destroy him ruthlessly whenever the chance to do so 

 comes his way. No mercy is ever shown to the animal, 

 and when once he is on the deck of a fishing-craft of any 

 sort he is doomed. 



The cannibalism of the dogfish was markedly proved 

 in the case of a codman which returned to port from the 

 North Sea. The vessel's crew had more than six score 

 cod on the lines, but only six were secured alive. As to 

 the rest, the smack returned to harbour with her rigging 

 decorated with their skeletons. The "dogs" had got 

 the flesh. The dogfish and the cod will devour their 

 own tribes as unconcernedly as they will raven any 

 small fry that happens to be handy. Often enough, on 

 being opened, a cod will be found to have swallowed 

 half a dozen or more herrings. The voracity of this 

 fish makes it easy to hook. 



The dogfish is the shark of the North Sea, the past 

 and present foe of all fishermen. He wages incessant 

 war with nets and their catches ; he never shows mercy, 

 and never gets it. He is a game fish, and usually dies 



