SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SHORE LIFE 285 



boats and 100 men (with boats or carts) were at work on the 

 Morecambe beds. The average amount sent away from 

 Morecambe during the winter months was 300 tons per 

 month, the bulk being sent for bait for long lines. The total 

 present yield of these beds is probably 3000 tons per annum, 

 of which only about 200 tons are utilised for human con- 

 sumption. 



A quart of bait mussels will average about 60 mussels, 

 and a bag of 65 quarts will consequently suffice to bait 

 3900 hooks; there are 16 bags to a ton (Report of 

 Superintendent, Lanes, and Western Sea Fisheries District, 

 Dec. 1918). 



Below are the weight in cwts. and value of different 

 kinds of shell-fish landed in the Lanes, and Western Sea 

 Fisheries District during the first quarter of 1914, with 

 corresponding figures for 19 13 : — 



The value of shell-fish landed at all ports in the Lanes, 

 and Western district during 1917-18 is given as follows : — 



1917 1918 



Cockles .. .. ,^11.582 £6,166 



Mussels .. .. 9.754 21,031 



Periwinkles .. .. 444 1,292 



It is obvious even from this table that these fisheries 

 fluctuate enormously, and the reason is mainly economic. 

 If local industries absorb all spare labour at remunerative 

 rates, only a more or less fixed and normally professional 

 class of fishers will follow the work of gathering shell-fish . 

 A local dearth of employment or a strike will quickly cause 

 a considerable number, including women and children, to 

 turn their attention to such work as a stop-gap, the products 



