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APPENDIX K: KYLE 



(3) the culminating point, or the year when the greatest success was apparently 

 reached, was 1890. Thereafter, the signs of a crisis or turning point became unmistakeable. 



(4), in spite of the great improvements in vessels and gear, and extension of fishing- 

 grounds, "the market was not so well supplied as formerly". 



(5) there was "a diminution in the number of saleable plaice, which a cutter can fish 

 in one day on formerly good grounds". 



(6) "large plaice (grown up) have become rare in the Kattegat", and "the average 

 size is smaller". 



The general conclusion arrived at from a consideration of these phenomena was, 

 that the plaice fishery had decreased, "and this was considered due, not merely to over- 

 capitalisation of the industry, but also to decrease in the stock of plaice in the Kattegat". 

 The decrease further was not general, but only in the quantities of large plaice; the 

 smaller plaice were present "in multitudes, perhaps even in greater numbers than in 

 former years, when there were more large ones to take up the room". 



The position thus outlined was reached by Petersen not so much from statistics, 

 as from personal experience of the fisheries. Statistical data was quite lacking to show, 

 for example, the truth of the statements contained in (4), (5) or (6). 



Since 1894, a great mass of information has been collected in the Danish Reports 

 bearing on the various points mentioned, and it is of the greatest importance, for the 

 problem of overfishing in general, to review this evidence and to ascertain how far, if at 

 all, the plaice fishery in the Kattegat has further decreased. It may be said here, that 

 the statistics have to be used with caution and that a few gaps occur in details. Never- 

 theless, the main facts can be made out quite clearly, when we make the same broad 

 survey of the matter which Petersen made in 1894. 



It will simplify the comprehension of the data, if we follow the same order as is 

 indicated above. 



I. Fishing grounds and fishing apparatus 

 In 1890, the whole Kattegat, so far as it was suitable, was already exploited by the 

 Danish fishermen, so that we cannot expect any change to have occurred in this respect 

 since that time. Then as now, also, the large cutters of the Kattegat were accustomed to 

 fish during the summer months in the Skager Rak and North Sea, and it does not appear 

 from the statistics, that the number of Kattegat cutters fishing outside the Kattegat has 

 increased since that time'. 



It is certain also, that the intensity of the fishing in the Kattegat itself has not dimin- 

 ished. So far as one can determine, the number of boats fishing there has increased, 

 and likewise the fishing power. The published statistics, unfortunately, help us very little 

 towards an exact estimation of the number of boats. Those of the largest type, i. e. 

 over 15 tons (brutto), are employed in the plaice fishery almost exclusively, and their 

 number, for the whole of Denmark, has increased from 195 in 1889 to 392 in 1904. Of 

 this increase, ca. 80 boats must be ascribed to Esbjerg and one or two smaller towns on 



I According to the reports of the inspectors for the west coast, the number of Kattegat boats 

 fishing in the North Sea, has been as follows; 1889: c. 93; 1890: c. 102; 1891: c. 120; 1892: c. 125; 

 1895: c. 129; 1896: c. 76; 1897: c. 100; 1899: c. 103; 1900: c. 74. The fishing boats of Skagen are not 

 included in these Usts. (From information received later, it appears that the figures given for 1889 

 to 1892 are not reliable, being certainly greater than they should be.) 



Appendix K 2 



