THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 19 



the new rule before it ever came into force. Since that 

 time various proposals have been made for obviating the 

 difficulty. But nothing has yet come of these proposals ; 

 and the whole subject still remains in an unsettled state. 



The development of the fishery is constantly increasing 

 the difficulty of devising adequate means for keeping the 

 trawlers and drift-nets apart. But there is one portion of 

 the British Islands where collisions of this character rarely 

 occur. Except in the Frith of Forth and on the Ayrshire 

 coast, there is little or no trawling in Scotland ; * and the 

 chief portion of the Scotch fishery is conducted by drift- 

 nets and line fishermen. This circumstance, however, does 

 not constitute the whole distinction between Scotland and 

 the rest of the United Kingdom. In England, with few 

 important exceptions, the bulk of the fish caught are caught 

 for the fresh market and for the home trade ; in Scotland 

 most of the fish are caught for the foreign market and are 

 cured. The foreign trade in fish is of such importance that 

 it may be desirable to describe it in some detail before 

 proceeding to a review of the still more valuable home 

 trade. 



And, in the first place, it may surprise some people to 

 learn that the import trade in fish is as important, and 

 growing at least as rapidly, as the export trade. In 1842, 

 forty-one years ago, 137,000 cwt. of fish were imported 

 into the United Kingdom; in 1882, 862,000 cwt, worth 

 ;;^ 1,659,000, were so imported. In 1842, on the other hand, 



* In Scotland the word " trawl " is in common use. But the trawl 

 of Scotland is not the beam-trawl of England, but the seine-net. It 

 may be added that in the United States the trawl is the long line. 

 There seems to be something peculiarly irritating to fishermen in the 

 name of trawl. Scotch fishermen denounce the seine-net as " a trawl : " 

 English fishermen denounce the beam-trawl ; and American fisher- 

 men object to the long lines which they call trawls. 



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