^46 THE SEA FISHERIES 



coasts of England and Scotland. In 1875 the Great Fisher Bank 

 was visited ; about this time, or shortly afterwards, the attention 

 of trawler owners was directed to the possibilities of steam 

 as a propulsive power. At one time Grimsby alone possessed 

 a fleet of 890 smacks, all of which have now been replaced by the 

 steamer. The change from sail to steam dates from 1878, but the 

 innovation was gradual, and it was not until late in the eighties 

 or early nineties it became evident that the steamer was destined 

 to supplant the smack. The earlier steam trawler was a vessel 

 of from go to 100 ft. in length with engines of moderate power, 

 a bunker capacity from 50 to 70 tons, and a fish hold of from 15 to 

 20 tons, the total displacement being from 250 to 300 tons. In 

 this early type the beam-trawl was used. Vessels of this description 

 with the bridge abaft the funnel were in existence till quite recently. 

 In 1895 the otter trawl was introduced, and thus the efficiency of 

 the steamer was much increased. 



Previous to 1891 practically the whole of the trawl^:aught fish 

 landed in the British Isles came from the North Sea. In that year 

 some adventurous trawler skippers paid a visit to Icelandic waters 

 with astonishing resiilts. Accurate information as to their catches 

 is not available, since the method of collecting statistics in vogue 

 at that time gave no idea of the locality of capture, but only the 

 port of landing. It is only within the last few years that an attempt 

 has been made to classify demersal fish according to their place of 

 origin. So successful were the first Icelandic trawlers that a large 

 number of steamers followed them, with the result -that nowadays 

 nearly 20 per cent of our trawl-caught fish comes from these waters. 

 Other distant regions have been visited in turn, so that trawlers 

 working from home ports now sweep the seas from the "White Sea 

 to the coast of Morocco. 'Nor is this exploitation of distant areas 

 confined to British trawlers. An even greater proportion of trawl- 

 caught Icelandic fish is landed in -Germany. Since the discovery 

 of the Icelandic fishing grounds, steam trawlers have fished off the 

 Faroe Islands, and subsequently visits were paid to the Bay of 

 Biscay, the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and finaUy the coasts of 

 Morocco and the White Sea ; while French steam trawlers now visit 

 the famous banks of Newfoundland. That our steam trawlers 

 should have been compelled in such numbers to desert the North 

 Sea and to seek new fishing grounds extending firom the Arctic 

 Circle to the Tropics is, in itself, a reason for believing the North 

 Sea grounds to be undergoing a gradual process of depletion. Long 

 and hazardous voyages to the White Sea in the depth of wml^r 

 are not undertaken for reasons of health. It is stern necessity 

 which compels our hardy fishermen to make such ventures. 



