Supply of Fish in Great Britain. 255 
increase of II per cent. over that of 1862, and in 13864 of 
I2 per cent. over that of 1863. It is particularly interest- 
ing as bearing upon;the alleged falling off of the take 
of fish on the Easte n Coast of England, where, instead 
of a decline, there is shown to be an annual increase 
exceeding 10,000 tons. 
The progressive state of the sea fisheries on the coasts 
of Great Britain, as shown by the increase in the number 
and size of boats at each fishing station, and the more 
improved fishing gear of every description is clearly 
brought out in every part of the evidence. The apparent 
decline on the coast of Ireland seems to be due to other 
causes than any decrease of fish. 
There is, likewise, abundant proof of the continued pro- 
ductiveness of the nearest and most frequented fishing- 
grounds. The principal London salesmen concurred in 
their testimony, to that effect. Not only are the fishing 
vessels constantly being increased in number, but the take 
of each vessel is increasing, and from the speedier means 
of transport, the quality of the fish is improving. On the 
western part of the Dogger Bank, it is not uncommon for 
a single trawl-vessel to take, in a three hours’ trawl, from 
two to three tons’ weight of fish, and a smack-owner men- 
tioned a recent case, in which five of his vessels caught 
seventeen tons of fish in one night. Similar testimony is 
borne to the prolific character of the fishing-banks off 
Scarborough, Flamborough Head, Grimsby, and the Coast 
of Norfolk. In the English Channel, the famous fishing- 
ground of Rye Bay, which has for a long period of years 
been constantly trawled over by both English and French 
fishermen, was stated to have yielded more fish during 
1863 than in any previous year. In some of the bays on 
the South Coast, signs of over-fishing have been alleged 
to exist, but in the deep sea, the well-known trawling- 
grounds are constantly fished over with daily returning 
success. 
One of the principal sources of the supply of food from 
the sea, is the herring-fishery. The statistics of the Scotch 
herring-trade show the quantities of the cured fish only. 
During the last twenty-five years, there has been no great 
fluctuation in the annual cure; but as the cure of 1862 was 
the greatest in the whole of that period, there can clearly 
be no permanent falling off in the take of herrings. 
There is no record of the vast quantities of herrings 
taken along the shores of the East Coast of England, 
