25 



Again, in the fishing season 1901-1902, the Board of 

 Trade returns for Moreeambe showed that 1,373 tons, 15 cwts. 

 of mussels were landed there. But it was ascertained that, 

 in the same fishing season, about 2,250 tons of mussels 

 (nearly twice the quantity) were sent by rail from Moreeambe. 

 With the exception of a " few bags " landed by steamer from 

 Londonderry, all these mussels were taken directly from the 

 fishing grounds. 



JAS. JOHNSTONE. 



Having now considered the total figures — which can by 

 no means at present be used to appraise the yield of the Irish 

 Sea — it remains to consider the statistics in greater detail, and 

 this may be done in one of two ways. 



Either one may take a given port or combination of ports 

 and from the totals of all fish, both wet and shell, landed 

 arrive at an idea of the prosperity of the district as a whole ; 

 or one may take a given fish — say soles or shrimps — and from 

 the totals for the whole district arrive at an idea of the increase 

 or decrease of that particular fish in our district. 



Neither system is unattended with difficulties, and 

 objections obviously suggest themselves to either method ; in 

 many instances these objections have proved fatal, and in 

 those cases the figures have been omitted. In other instances 

 the results are such as to justify publication ; at any rate, this 

 much is certain — they are the only figures available. 



Taking the prosperity of any given port first — the figures 

 are given in the preceding Table — we find that Fleetwood and 

 Liverpool have, on the whole, shown a steady increase — with 

 exceptional years for Fleetwood in 1897 and 1898. These 

 figures are expressed in a graphic manner below. 



