8 THE SEA FISHERIES 



Next to herring the most important dried or cured fish is cod. 

 In 1913 the exports of cured cod amoimted to 441,969 cwt., value 

 £601,914. The great market for dried cod is Spain, which took 

 182,061 cwt. in 1913. The next most important markets are Cuba 

 and Brazil, which took 46,553 and 31,596 cwt., respectively, in 1913. 

 The quantity sent to Brazil shows a decline in recent years, as both 

 Newfoundland and Norway are forcing their dried fish on the 

 Brazilian market. 



Cured haddock to the amount of 33,793 cwt. were exported in 

 1913, the Australian colonies being our best customers. 



Cured mackerel, of which nearly 100,000 cwt. are exported 

 aimually, goes mainly to the United States, but there are fair markets 

 in Turkey, Canada and the British West Indies. The United States 

 took nearly 89,000 cwt. in 1913. 



Pilchards are essentially an export, and 37,033 cwt. went abroad 

 in 1913. The great market for these fish is Italy (32,850 cwt.), 

 but a few are sent to Brazil, the United States, the Cape of Good 

 Hope and India. 



THE COLLECTION OF STATISTICS 



For many years the collection of fishery statistics in England 

 and Wales was woefully inadequate, and in spite of the statement 

 of Mr. Runciman,^ then President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries, that " our fishery statistics are much better than those 

 of any other nation," there is room for considerable improvement, 

 and the Board have a lot of leeway to make up before they can hope 

 to compare their statistics with those of the Scottish Fishery 

 Board. 



The earliest fishery returns for the British Islands were simply 

 returns of the quantity of fish conveyed inland by railway from each 

 of the principal fishing ports, and the first such return was for the 

 year 1878. In 1885 the Board of Trade began the collection, in a 

 systematic form, of statistics of fish caught and landed on the 

 English coasts. These statistics were published aimually imder the 

 title " Statistical Tables and Memorandum relating to the Sea 

 Fisheries of the United Kingdom, including Return of the Quantity 

 of Fish carried by Railway from each of the principal ports of 

 England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland during the years from 

 . . . to . . . inclusive." 



These returns were long known to all serious students of the sea 

 fisheries to be inadequate both in plan and extent, and even as far 



^ Address delivered to the 24th annual meeting of representatives of authorities 

 under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1888, Thursday, June 25th, 1914. 

 Cd. 7557, p. 7. 



