A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



English counties) is extremely defective. Statis- 

 tics of the amount of fish landed on the coasts 

 of England and Wales have been collected by 

 the Board of Trade prior to the year 1903, and 

 since then by the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries (the department which is now respon- 

 sible for the control of the fishing industry in 

 England and Wales). These statistics are col- 

 lected by officials who are stationed at the most 

 important fishing ports in the country and are 

 published annually in a Blue Book. For a 

 long time it has been recognized by those who 

 are conversant with the conditions of the fishing 

 industry that the information thus collected leaves 

 much to be desired, not only as regards its general 

 accuracy, but also as regards numerous details of 

 much importance. In the absence of any other 

 information however I give here the official 

 figures for the quarter of the year ending 

 30 June, 1905, contenting myself with the 

 statement that the figures are most probably 

 much less than those which would truly repre- 

 sent the true state of the industry. The follow- 

 ing table gives the value of the various fishes 

 landed in the whole Lancashire and Western 

 Sea Fisheries District. It must be remembered 

 that the greater portion of these quantities of 

 fish have been landed in the Lancashire portion 

 of the district. 



Value of Fish Landed in the Lancashire and 

 Western Sea Fisheries District during the three 

 months ending 30 June, 1905 



I. Sea-Fish:— £ 



Hake 29,561 



Soles 9,018 



Cod* 8,222 



Haddock 4,268 



Skate and Ray 3,496 



Plaice 2,860 



Whiting 2,743 



Turbot 2,515 



Gurnards 1,848 



Congers ',234 



Megrims 1,222 



Coalfish 1,043 



Ling 888 



Bream' 860 



Brill 653 



Witches 564 



Pollack 562 



Monks and Anglers .... 458 



Lemon Soles 358 



Halibut 253 



Dabs 155 



Mackerel 1 30 



Dory 9 



Mullet 6 



Dogfish 4 



AH other kinds including Salmon 2,335 



Total 75,265 



' ' Cod' include codling. 

 This is the sea-bream {Sfarus centrodontus, de la 



2. Shellfish:— £ 



Oysters 3.098 



Shrimps 2,296 



Cockles 1,085 



Prawns 973 



Lobsters 127 



Mussels 119 



Periwinkles 113 



Crabs 72 



Crayfish 6 



Total . 



7,889 



These quantities refer to the whole of the 

 Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries District, 

 and include all the coasts of Wales. But it will 

 be found that the greater proportion is landed in 

 the older Lancashire sea fisheries district, and at 

 any rate the tables will give the reader an idea of 

 the relative proportions of the various kinds of 

 fish which are landed on the coasts of Lanca- 

 shire if he remembers that most of the crabs and 

 lobsters are landed on the coasts of Wales. It 

 must be remembered that these quantities are 

 to be regarded as minimum ones, for it is practi- 

 cally certain that whatever else the official figures 

 may show, they certainly underestimate the values 

 of fish landed on these coasts. It is necessary to 

 remember also that these values represent the 

 amounts paid to the fishermen ; the total prices 

 paid by the consumer for the fish may be taken 

 as about three times the values given in the 

 tables. 



The above tables of the amount of fish landed 

 in the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries 

 District may be supplemented by the following 

 one which gives the value of the fish landed at 

 the various ports in the order of their import- 

 ance : — 



Value of the Fish and Shellfish Landed at the 

 Lancashire Ports, and at Hoylake during the 

 three months ending 30 September, 1906. 



£ 



Fleetwood 60,0 1 5 



Liverpool (and Birkenhead) . . 20,805 



Southport 3,779 



Hoylake' 2,061 



Morecambe ',957 



Lytham 1,396 



Ulverston 268 



Lune Estuary 267 



Cark 205 



Barrow j 1 1 



90,866 



Roche). 



The Administration of the Industry 



Previously to the year 1890 the sea-fishing 

 industry of England and Wales was quite un- 



' The Hoylake smacks also land a considerable 

 quantity of fish at Liverpool and Bangor. 

 .414 



