SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 83 
1914 are included in this period as the most important season 
of the fishery was over before the reduced man-power could 
have noticeable effect. The three men who have carried on 
the industry since the beginning of 1915 to the end of 1917 have 
raised the mean annual man average to almost nine and a half 
tons. They also took an active part in the valuable stake-net 
plaice fishery at Roosebeck in the autumn 1916. This fishery 
reached its maximum in October, and came to an end through 
bad weather which also affected the collection of periwinkles 
in the last quarter of the year. One of the three men found 
temporary employment in November and December, 1917, 
repairing the breakwater connecting Foulney Island with the 
railway embankment. The other two at the same time engaged 
in line fishing for small cod, which were more remunerative 
than the periwinkles. The quantity of periwinkles sent away 
from Piel Station in December, 1917, was only threecwts. This 
is the smallest amount in the whole twelve years. This marked 
reduction is not due to a decline in the number of periwinkles 
present in the area. It is simply because they were not fished. 
It is probable that the same thing is taking place in the other 
minor inshore fisheries along our coast. The annual statistics 
in some cases may show a reduction when compared with pre- 
war results, but one must be certain that the man-power has 
not suffered depletion before we can say that there is a real 
decline. If the results could be analysed we would very likely 
find that the fishermen remaining at work are getting more fish 
and shell-fish per man than they did in the past. In the cases 
where the bare figures show a decline there may really be an 
increase per man, as in the Barrow Channel periwinkle industry. 
Much will depend upon trade conditions after the war is 
over whether the men will return to their outdoor life and take 
up the periwinkle fishery again. The work may appear hard 
and monotonous to the ordinary observer, but the expert fisher- 
man does not consider it so. It is probably not much harder 
