THE SEA FISHERIES 



CHAPTER I 



STATISTICAL INTRODUCTION. THE COLLECTION OF STATISTICS 



STATISTICAL evidence of the development of the British 

 Sea Fisheries is to be found in the reports of the three 

 Government Departments concerned with the administra- 

 tion of the fisheries. In England and Wales the Central Department 

 is the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, in Scotland the Fishery 

 Board, in Ireland the Department of Agriculture and Technical 

 Instruction.^ 



Each of these bodies publishes an annual report which contains 

 inter alia a statistical review of the sea fisheries of the year pre- 

 ceding. Unfortunately there is no uniformity in the mode of 

 presenting the statistical data, so that in comparing one country 

 with another, or even in estima.titig the total value of the fisheries, 

 care has to be exercised. It is a comparatively simple matter to 

 add together the totals of the weight and value of the fish landed in 

 each country, and in that manner to obtain some idea of the gross 

 value of the British Sea Fisheries ; but if any attempt be made to 

 analyse the returns, the absence of any uniform system of recording 

 the results of the fishing at once becomes evident. 



In the official returns for England and Wales, fish are divided 

 into " Wet " and " Shell." Wet fish are fresh, i.e. uncured sea fish. 

 Shellfish comprise the various edible moUusca and Crustacea, the 

 former group including cockles, mussels and oysters, the latter 

 crabs, lobsters, shrimps and prawns. In the Irish reports the 

 divisions are " Fish " and " Shellfish," and these correspond to 

 the wet and shellfish of the English reports. The classification of 

 fish in Scotland is into herring, white fish (sea fish exclusive of 

 herring) and shellfish. As fishing is now prosecuted from the Arctic 

 circle to the tropics, and at depths from 5 to 200 fathoms, it will 

 be readily understood that an enormous variety is available for the 



1 In congested areas in Ireland the Congested Districts Board is concerned with 

 the administration, in some aspects at any rate, of the Sea Fisheries. 



