i 

 INTRODUCTION 



THE SITUATION IN 1903— METHODS AND 

 VALUE OF THE FISHERIES 



At the present time there are at least 27,000 

 vessels, manned by over 90,000 fishermen, engaged 

 in fishing from the ports of the United Kingdom. 

 At any hour of the twenty-four, one-fourth of 

 this enormous number of vessels and men may be 

 on the seas, anywhere and everywhere round the 

 British Isles, from Iceland on the north to the 

 coasts of Portugal on the south. In the course 

 of a twelvemonth they will land over 900,000 

 tons of fish, worth about ^^ 10,000,000. On 

 every week-day throughout the year they will 

 bring ashore some 3000 tons of fish, worth (to 

 them) about ^^ 3 3,000 ; and during the next two 

 or three days this enormous quantity of fish will 

 have been distributed all over the country, or 

 exported abroad ; and the consumers will have 

 paid over ^100,000 for it — for the produce of 

 a single day's fishing in the fishing grounds about 

 the British Isles. 



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