﻿International 
  Fisheries 
  Exhibition. 
  

  

  LONDON, 
  1883. 
  

  

  Conference 
  on 
  Monday, 
  June 
  25, 
  1883. 
  

  

  His 
  Excellency 
  the 
  American 
  Minister 
  (James 
  RUSSELL 
  

   LOWELL, 
  Esq., 
  LL.D.) 
  in 
  the 
  Chair. 
  

  

  FISHERY 
  INDUSTRIES 
  OF 
  THE 
  

   UNITED 
  STATES. 
  

  

  I. 
  

  

  Your 
  Excellency, 
  my 
  Lords, 
  Ladies 
  and 
  Gentle- 
  

   men, 
  — 
  The 
  narratives 
  of 
  Columbus 
  and 
  the 
  early 
  explorers 
  

   are 
  filled 
  with 
  tales 
  of 
  the 
  number 
  and 
  the 
  diversity 
  of 
  the 
  

   fishes 
  in 
  the 
  seas 
  and 
  rivers 
  of 
  the 
  West. 
  

  

  European 
  fishermen, 
  Basque, 
  Norman, 
  English, 
  Spanish, 
  

   and 
  Portuguese, 
  followed 
  in 
  the 
  wake 
  of 
  discovery, 
  and 
  

   twenty-five 
  years 
  after 
  the 
  landing 
  of 
  Columbus 
  the 
  crews 
  

   of 
  fifty 
  vessels 
  were 
  plying 
  their 
  handlines 
  over 
  the 
  shoals 
  

   of 
  the 
  New-found-land. 
  

  

  English 
  mariners 
  were 
  accustomed, 
  however, 
  to 
  resort 
  to 
  

   the 
  cod-banks 
  of 
  Iceland 
  as 
  early 
  as 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  Henry 
  IV. 
  

   (1400- 
  14 
  1 
  3), 
  and 
  to 
  them, 
  at 
  least, 
  the 
  voyage 
  to 
  the 
  new 
  

   grounds, 
  a 
  few 
  scores 
  of 
  leagues 
  further 
  from 
  home, 
  was 
  not 
  

   a 
  particularly 
  remarkable 
  act 
  of 
  enterprise 
  or 
  daring. 
  

  

  The 
  fishermen 
  soon 
  extended 
  their 
  voyages 
  to 
  the 
  

   region 
  now 
  known 
  as 
  New 
  England. 
  Gosnold, 
  in 
  1602, 
  

  

  