BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES 



ayei 

 . , , TTOVTOV t' elvakiav (j}V(rtv cnrtipauri SiktvokXoxttols, 

 Trepi<f)paSrj'S dvi^p. 



Sophocles : Antigone. 



To contemplate all the legislation concerning English 

 sea-fishing and the administration of this vast in- 

 dustry during the last century is alike to bewilder 

 the reason and to fatigue the patience. The industry 

 is an enormous one, and of the utmost value to the 

 dwellers in these islands. At the present time there 

 are over 27,000 vessels, manned by more than 90,000 

 seamen, fishing from the ports of Great Britain. They 

 land over 900,000 tons of fish, worth some ;^ 10,000,000, 

 during the year. In addition to the fishermen who 

 remove the fish from the sea, a considerable popu- 

 lation of packers, curers, coopers, hawkers, etc., is 

 employed. For instance, out of the 20,000 hands 

 employed in the Shetland herring-fishery summer of 

 1906, 11,000 have been at sea, and 9,120, of whom 7,560 

 were women, have been employed on shore, not to 

 mention the large number of railway employes who 

 are engaged in the transport of a very perishable 

 article. Apart from the material interests of the trade 

 (the capital invested in steamers, sailing-boats, and gear 

 of all kinds being estimated at more than ;^ 11,000,000), 

 the fishing industry is of great importance to the 

 country as a training-ground for sailors and marine 

 engineers, and as affording a means of livelihood to a 

 vigorous and an independent population. 



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