38 THE BRITISH FISH TRADE, 



perhaps, be justifiable to assume that these fisheries and 

 the fishery for young sprats and young herrings, known as 

 whitebait, yield to the fishermen a gross revenue of from 

 ;^2, 500,000 to ;^ 2,7 50,000 a year. This sum, which is 

 purposely computed in the most moderate manner, repre- 

 sents the value of the fish on the coast, and not its much 

 higher value in the markets. 



Before proceeding to deal with the great line and trawl 

 fisheries which form the main source of the fish supply, it 

 may be convenient to add a few words on the fisheries for 

 migratory fish. There are four kinds of migratory fish which 

 are taken in this country : Salmon, including in the term 

 all migratory fish of the family ; smelts, the eperlan of France, 

 or the sparling of northern England ; shad or twait, and 

 eels ; of these, salmon are by far the most important. 

 They are caught by fixed nets on the coasts of Scotland, 

 and by fixed engines in the rivers, by seine-nets, or by net and 

 coble, to use the Scotch term for a seine-net ; and by drift- 

 nets off the coast of Northumberland and in some parts of 

 Ireland. The Irish Salmon Fisheries are estimated to yield 

 £ 579,000 a year. This estimate, however, has been made by 

 computing the value of the fish at \s. 6d. a lb. Placing 

 it at the more moderate price of is. a lb., the yield of these 

 fisheries may be estimated at about ;^ 400,000. The value 

 of the Scotch salmon fisheries is certainly not less than 

 ^250,000 annually, and probably reaches ^300,000. The 

 yield of the English Salmon Fisheries has been frequently 

 computed at ;^ 100,000 a year. 



It seems, therefore, not unreasonable to assume that the 

 salmon fisheries of the British Islands yield to the fishermen 

 some ^800,000 annually. It is perhaps fair to suppose that 

 the fisheries for other migratory fish — eels, twait, and smelts 

 — produce at least ^100,000 a year. If then the value of 



