142 



THE SEA FISHERIES 



since the fishery is only possible during a portion of the year and is 

 hable to violent fluctuations. In the first year of their work the six 

 luggers caught 3785 barrels, which realised 147,777 marks (about 

 £7250), in the next year they had nine luggers, in 1875 eleven, and 

 the number remained at this total until 1882. After that they 

 increased by about a lugger a year. In 1890 there were seventeen, 

 in 1895 the number was fifty-two, and in 1898, when steam drifters 

 first made their appearance in the German herring fleet, there were 

 eighty-five luggers and five steamers. 



In 1909 there were 190 luggers and eighty steam drifters. 



Five-yearly averages from 1872 give the following results :— 1 



The main features of the statistics of the great herring fisheries 

 as outlined above, are the enormous production and the steady 

 increase in every country. When one considers that in the period 

 under review the price has risen rather than fa,llen, it is clear that 

 the demands of the markets are by no means satisfied. 



The development of the Dutch herring fishery is most remarkable, 

 and it must be remembered that both the fishing and the trade are 

 entirely free and not supported by the Government in any of the 

 ways in which the German industry is helped. The next table 

 which gives the imports of salt herring into Germany, shows how 

 formidable a competitor Holland has become in the great herring 

 markets.^ It must, however, be noted, that the German official 

 statistics as to imports differ widely from the export statistics of the 

 various countries concerned. In particular the Dutchtotal is greater 

 in the German table (imports) than in their own table (exports) ; 

 similarly the figures for Great Britain in the German official table 

 (imports) are much less than in the British tables (of exports). 



The following table shows also that although the German pro- 



1 The earlier figures are from the Geschaftsberichten der Emder Heringsfischerei 

 A G • lateffrom '"statistischen Handbuch fur das Deutsche Reich "and Statis- 

 tischen Jahrbiichern fiir das Deutsche Reich." ' See Appendix VIII, p. 282. 



