174 THE HERRING INDUSTRY 



already cited, entitled " The Territorial Waters 

 and the Sea Fisheries," for a summary of the 

 position as it was before the war, and for the 

 reforms which then seemed advisable. The 

 state of the fisheries, the legal position of 

 foreign poachers, the changes in the position 

 of fishing and trawling and in the use of 

 drifters, the strong position of the Scottish 

 and Irish Fisheries Boards as compared with 

 that of the English Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries— these are among the subjects dealt 

 with. The position of foreign poachers will 

 be settled by the war ; the limit of territorial 

 waters must be increased ; the condition of the 

 fisheries cannot be foreseen. But even in these 

 days of stress it is clear that reforms in the 

 administration of the fisheries must come, that 

 foreign vessels must no longer share or steal 

 the privileges of the English fishing fleets as of 

 right, that the scientific study of pisciculture 

 must be carried further, that improved means 

 of cold storage, ciu*ing and distribution must be 

 adopted for fish, and that the herring must 

 become more and more a staple article of food, 

 being more truly that which Kingsley said of 

 the salmon, **of all Heaven's gifts of food, the 

 one to be most carefully protected." 



We have now traced, in outline at least, the 

 part played by the herring in the history of 

 Britain, and therefore in the building of the 

 Empire. The search for food led to the discovery 



