INTRODUCTION xxi 



bulk of the fish landed in England, are more 

 valuable than the herring, which is the fish in 

 Scotland. A truer idea of the value of the 

 Scottish fisheries is, however, obtained if the value 

 of the fish sold fresh in the neighbourhood where 

 they are landed, and the value of the fish cured 

 for transport, are considered. Thus, the value of 

 such fish in Scotland for the year 1903 was 

 j^ 1, 065, 040, while the value of all fish cured 

 for transport at home or abroad was j^2, 34 1,928 ; 

 and in addition to the fish represented by these 

 values, a considerable portion is carried away fresh 

 by rail. 



The number of persons employed does not bear 

 a similar proportion to the value of the fish landed 

 in each country. This is due to the causes 

 indicated above — the nature and efficiency of the 

 vessels and gear employed by them. But it is also 

 due, in the case of Ireland notably, to the fact 

 that the fisherman there is, in very many cases, 

 a person who combines some other occupation, 

 farming usually, with that of fishing, and to that 

 extent he is to be regarded as a fraction of a fisher- 

 man, rather than as a unit, as I have considered 

 him to be in the above tabular statements. 



We have now to consider the methods employed 

 by these fishermen for the capture of the fish they 

 bring to the market. There is no industry in 

 which the essentials of the methods employed have 

 changed so little as in sea-fishing. From time 



