INTRODUCTION 



OVER fifteen years' experience in the service of the largest 

 of the local fishery committees in England and Wales 

 leads one to believe that there is a real desire for further 

 knowledge of the sea fisheries. Delegates of foreign and colonial 

 Governments, members and would-be members of Parliament and 

 representatives of various local authorities contributing to the 

 expense of sea fishery administration have in turn sought informa- 

 tion as to the conditions under which the sea fisheries are now 

 carried on. The nature of the questions asked, covering as they 

 have done practically all the branches of fishery research and 

 administration, gives one a clue to the kind of information desired, 

 and the absence of any single volume which deals with or gives 

 references to the many and diverse problems to be studied has led 

 to the writing of the present book. 



Necessarily much of the information, if it is to prove of any 

 value, should be supplemented by actual observation on the fishing 

 grounds as well as by reference to the original authorities. 



The outbreak of the European war in 1914 naturally influenced 

 the fisheries of North-Western Europe to a profound degree. In 

 some instances, as in the Scottish herring fisheries, the fishing was 

 after a time entirely suspended. In other instances the fishing was 

 carried on under very difficult conditions, as in the case of steam 

 trawling in certain areas. On the other hand, inshore fishing was 

 probably the least affected, and since the scarcity of fish caused 

 an all-round increase of prices, the inshore fisherman benefited. 

 All branches of the industry contributed — as those who knew them 

 foresaw — ^liberally in men, and, when required, in vessels to the 

 national defence ; and this again affected the yield in the war 

 period. 



So far as one can judge the war's effects on the sea fisheries of 

 the British Isles will prove of a transient nature. Even the Scottish 

 herring fisheries will in all probability recover rapidly. Twice 

 before these fisheries have lost their markets as suddenly as they 

 did the German and Russian markets in 1914 ; firstly the loss of 

 the West Indian market owing to the emancipation of the slaves, 

 and secondly the loss of the Irish market at the time of the potato 



