i84 THE SEA FISHERIES 



Attempts were made to develop the fisheries of Ireland in 1736, 

 when the Nymph Bank off the coast of Waterford was discovered, 

 and in 1802 when Eraser attempted to supply the London market 

 with fish from this bank.^ The bounty system, which has already 

 been described in the case of the herring fisheries of Scotland, was 

 also tried in Ireland. Space forbids an enumeration of the various 

 steps taken to develop the Irish fisheries by means of bounties." 

 From 1801 to 1819, the year in which the Comnaissioners of the 

 Irish Fisheries were appointed, £113,898 were paid as bounties in 

 Ireland on fishing boats, cured fish and fish oil. 



The Act of 1819 (59 Geo. Ill, c. 109), which provided for the 

 appointment of the Commissioners, also made provision for a bounty 

 system. For vessels of 15 tons and upwards used in fishing or curmg 

 fish there was a bounty of £2 los. per ton, but not payable for any 

 tonnage above 60. The first pound was payable on the return of 

 each vessel ; of the remaining £1 los. a bounty of 6s. per barrel for 

 herrings gutted with knives, 4s. per barrel for herring, pilchard and 

 mackerel not so gutted, and 4s. per cwt. for dried cod, ling, hake, 

 haddock, glassen {Gadus virens) and conger. There were also 

 payable £3 per tun for every tun of oil from whales or other fish, 

 £4 per cwt. on whalebone, 3s. per barrel for herring, pilchard and 

 mackerel payable to persons residing in Ireland not entitled to the 

 tonnage bounty, and 4s. per cwt. for dried cod, ling, hake, haddock, 

 glassen and conger. Modifications were introduced in 1820, 1824 and 

 1826, but it is unnecessary to specify these. » The framers of these 

 Acts were doubtless influenced by the success of the bounty system 

 in Scotland, and the following table shows that under the stimulus 

 of the bounties the sea fisheries of Ireland made steady progress. 



In 1821 there were 36,159 fishermen and 7655 toats, m 1829 the 

 numbers were 64,771 men and 13,119 boats. A few years after the 

 withdrawal of the bounty system (1836) the numbers were 54,119 

 men and 10,761 boats. 



The Bounty System in Ireland, 1819-29 



(ANNUAL averages) 

 Number of Barrels of herring Total Bounty 



Years fishermen. (gutted with knives). As. 



1824-29 .. 59.308 •• 25,130 



1 See '■ A Review of the Domestic Fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland," by 

 R. Fraser, Edinburgh, 1818. tu. <;fnt^ nf the British Hernng Fisheries, 



« Reference should be made to Reports on the %%i;X, Fishery carried o« from 

 1708 p 264, under head Report on the State of *\'^^^/'JJ„f^„ of inquiry into 

 llfanl 1^'Appendix No. . to tUeFustRepori of '^/^^-"CS Sft.W ^He 

 the State of the Insh Fisheries. Dublin, 1836, p. i, emu 

 British and Irish Fisheries, by Sir T. C. Morgan. inquiry, Dublin, 1836, 



" See First Report of the Commissioners of the Insh Jr'isnery m-i /. 



p. 10. 



