APPENDIX K: KYLE _ 58 _ 



that this fishery is in a critical position. This has been recognised in Germany as 

 in England. By critical position is to be understood, not the possible exhaus- 

 tion of the fisheries, but simply, that the fisheries are coming more and 

 more to depend upon the smaller classes and inferior kinds of fish. 



Theoretical consideration of the many and complicated possibilities, will not suffice to 

 solve the problem ■ whether man, by interfering with the course of fishing, can help to 

 improve the fisheries; that can only be solved by well-regulated experi- 

 ments (p. 45). 



Consideration of the average price received on the markets for the various size- 

 groups of the principal species, shows that the fishing may be practical but cannot be 

 called altogether rational. The average price obtained by the smaller kinds of plaice and 

 haddock, per pound or per kilogram, is only one third of that obtained by the larger. 

 Apart from the question of decrease, therefore, it does not seem rational to base an 

 industry on a commodity which obtains but one third of the value it might have. 



In fishing under natural conditions, it is unavoidable that a certain proportion of fish 

 smaller than the desired mean-size is taken. The sole fishery of Germany (Geestemünde 

 and Bremerhaven) may be cited as an example of a fishery, where the proportion by 

 weight of small fish taken (31 %) is not excessive. In the case of the plaice and haddock 

 fishery, however, the proportion of the small fish (by weight) is from 84 % to 95 % for 

 the plaice and from 60% to over 70% for the haddock. There can be no doubt that 

 these percentages are excessive and mean a loss in the end to the fishing-population (p. 50). 



An important practical conclusion arises from a consideration of the total quantities 

 and the average prices together. It has been shown, that the former have greatly 

 increased (Table XXVI) and that the latter, on the other hand, have decreased within 

 recent years — even for the herring (Table XXVIII). As the increase in the total quan- 

 tities arises from an increase in the inferior and smaller kinds of fish, it follows, that the 

 decrease in the average price is due to the fact, that the people in all the countries 

 concerned are desirous of a better quality of fish not a greater quantity (p. 52). If so, 

 the present mode of conducting the fishery is doubly irrational. 



Finally, it has proved to be impossible to give an accurate and connected summary 

 of the number of boats and thus of the amount of fishing in the North Sea (p. 52). In- 

 asmuch as the boats of the different countries are and always will be somewhat different 

 from one another, and the results of the fishing are dependent upon many more things 

 than the mere numbers and kind of boats, it is not easy to arrive at any measure of 

 the total amount of fishing from this aspect. The problem of overfishing, in so far as 

 it involves the question — is it possible to increase the amount of fishing or number of 

 boats? — cannot be solved from theoretical considerations. It is the value the fish receive, 

 which is the principal cause of an increase or decrease in the amount of fishing. Conse- 

 quently, in dealing with overfishing as a practical problem, it is necessary to consider the 

 monetary side of the matter, the expenditure in boats and gear on the one hand and 

 the gross and net income on the other (see Part I, p. I2i). With this practical aspect 

 the present work has nothing to do, except in so far as the theoretical 

 discussion of the scientific problems of the decrease of fish may conduce 

 to more rational methods of conducting the fisheries in the future. 



