FISHERIES 



UNDER the heading Sea Fisheries, which form the 

 piirticuliir subject of tlie present article,' nmy be 

 incluilu'l tlio various o|pi;ratioiis ongagial in for the capture 

 of the .litroroiit forms (jf i,iarine hfe wiiich, in some ni iiitiur 

 or othur, iiiiiiisttir to the wants or ooiivenienue of man. The 

 iM'wt inipori.ant of tliesu fislieries — those only, in fact, to 

 wliicli the title strictly belongs, and which have more or 

 hiss widely occupied attention from probably the earliest 

 timus —are carried on chictly by hook aiul line or net, with 

 til ) oHjcct of obt lining fisli for ihe purposes of fi/od ; and 

 this iniiii division of tlio general subject will be here con- 

 sidirod. 



AliliDUgh little or nothing^is known of the methods of 

 fisliin;,' oil our coasts in very early times, there can be no 

 dout)t that in England, as in all maritime countries, fish 

 h;is always been e;i,i;orly sought after as an easily procurable 

 article of food. Tliu abundance of herrings and mackerel, 

 for instance, on the coasts at regular seasons of the year, 

 could not have fiilod to attract attention ; and Swinden, in 

 his History ami Anti'/uities of Gre'it Yarwmth, expresses 

 his belitif th it the herring fishery began there soim after 

 tliy year 495. In Scotland also there is evidence that the 

 herring fishery wis systematically carried on from a very 

 early d ;'te. Pro-rise records of other lisheries do not go 

 biick SI) I'l.'- as that ol the herring ; but there is no reason 

 for believing that cc)d ami kindred fishes were not 

 taken by the ho .k and line very many centuries ago, and, 

 like tiie herring, were s!il)jected to some ready mode of 

 curing either with salt or by drying in the open air. In 

 comparatively recent times all the fisheries have been largely 

 develi>|ied, and none more so than that known as beam- 

 trawling, a metiiod of tishing which had probably attracted 

 little notice a h'lndred years ago, but is now the most 

 reg ilarly piod'ictive and important on the English coast. 

 Many circumstances have combined to encourage the work- 

 ing of sea fislieries as a national industry. The great 

 extent of coast-line surrounding the British Islands provides 

 ready access to the aea to a numerous population who 

 bei'onie familiar from their youth with seafaring pursuits ; 

 and to siiidi occipations large numbers betake themselves 

 with instinctive aptitude, eitlier as fishermen or sailors. In 

 many cases early associations lead them to devote them- 

 selves to such fisheries as are within reach of their native 

 villages ; in others, they m;iy become alternately sailors and 

 fishermen, shipping for a few months every year on a trad- 

 ing voyage, and returning home in time to take part in the 

 lierriiig or some other temporary but iirofitable fishery; 

 whilst in the case of the deeit-sea trawling or cod fishery, 

 they learn to become as good sailors as they are fishermen, 

 for they have often to renuin at sea in decked vessels for 

 weeks at a time in all kinds of weather,— they must keep 

 on their fishing grciiid, and must trust to th'jir knowledge 

 of seam mship to battle with the furious gales to which 

 they may be at any time exposed when thus far away from 

 shelter. Inducements to become fishermen are not wanting 

 to this coast population. Nowhere are the best kinds ol 

 soi fish more abundant than in temperate and moderately 

 high latitudes ; and in this respect the British Islands are 

 most advintageou.sly situated, the seas surrounding them 

 being frequented throughout the year by a variety of fishes 

 always in request for the market, besides producing count- 

 less shoals of other kinds which only come within reach of 

 the fishermen at particular seasons of the year. And great 



1 This does iH,i ii.ciiuiu CoiuL, Pkarl, Salmon, Sponoe, aid 



as may sometimes be the Bupply offish duringthe continuance 

 of favourable weather, it is rarely that the demand for it is 

 exceeded at the present day ; for all the markets of the 

 country are brought within reach by the facilities provided 

 for ra[(id transport from tlie fishing ports by the extensive 

 system of coast and inland railways now in operation. 

 Fishermen, therefore, always find a market for their produce; 

 and although it is to be feared that many of them obtain 

 but a small proportion of the price for which their fish ia 

 ultimately sold to the consumer, the majority of them are 

 enabled to live more comfortably than formerly, and to 

 save enough to keep their fi.shing gear in good working 

 order, and in many cases to pay for improved and larger 

 boats. 



There is no doubt that the fisheries fluctuate a good deal 

 from year to year ; and it is often the case tliat they may 

 be good on one part of a coast when they are bad on another. 

 The important herring fishery on the coasts of Scotland is a 

 marked example of this, as must be familiar to all persons 

 who have given any attention to the subject. Thus it not 

 unfrequently hapi)ens that when the fishery im the east side 

 is particularly successful, a scarcity occurs on the west 

 coast, or vice vema. Again, in some years the fish are 

 equally abundant or scarce on both coasts. These fluctua- 

 tions are observed in even small districts of a line of coast, 

 and one part of a season may be good and another bad in 

 the same locality. Precisely the same variations occur on 

 all the coasts of the British Islands, and with all kinds of 

 fishes. Undoubtedly, weather is one of the most important 

 elements in the question of success ; and a generally stormy 

 season has a marked effect in the diminislied quantity of 

 fish landed. It tells both in reducing the number of fisher- 

 men at work, and in driving the fish from their usnal 

 haunts. It Is only quite recently that attention has been 

 directed to the subject of temperature as affecting the 

 movements of certain fishes towards or from the surface of 

 the sea, and this will be further noticed when we speak of 

 the herring fisheries. Apparently trifling circumstances 

 may in some cases materially afl"ect the catch of fish. Thus 

 th,! scan fishery for pilchards on the coast of Cornwall has 

 fluctuated exceedingly during the last 50 or 60 years for 

 which returns are in existence ; but however abundant these 

 fish may be on the coast, the scans cannot catch them 

 unless the shoals come quite close to the land in localities 

 where these nets can be worked. Enormous hauls of pil- 

 chards have been made in particular years, whilst in otlvers 

 the fishermen have waited week after week without a chance 

 of wetting their nets, although the drift-net fishermen at 

 some little distance from the land have been meeting with 

 fair success. The large apparent element of chance in the 

 success of our fisheries cannot be better expressed than by 

 the general hope of the fishermen for " good luck." 



Great changes have taken place in the fi.->liing trade 

 tvithin the last 20 or 30 years, more especially in that for 

 fish sent fresh to the market. Excluding herrings and cod, 

 which to a great extent were consigned to the curer as scon 

 as possible after they were caught, a large proportion of 

 the fish formerly taken on our coasts was dis[iosed of 

 within a short distance of the place where it was landed. 

 A good many turbot and soles were forwarded by light 

 carts or coacties to the nearest railways as these gradually 

 extended in different directions from London ; but the 

 peojile near the coast were, o generation or two ago, the 

 principal cons'imers of fidi, and the supply was compira 

 tively scanty, for the fiOiing boats were smill, and iIm'to 

 was litbU iuduQBment to fish on a large scale when the 



