Page:EB1911 - Volume 10.djvu/446

belonging to those countries in 1905 scarcely exceeded the mere additions to the British fishing fleet in 1906.

The relative magnitude of British fisheries may best be gauged by a comparison with the proceeds of the chief fisheries of other European countries. The following table is based upon official returns and mainly derived from the Bulletin Statistique of the International Council for the Study of the Sea. It represents in pounds sterling the value of the produce of the various national fisheries during the year 1904, except in the case of France, for which country the latest available figures are those for 1902.

Values in Thousands of £.

	Herring.	Cod.	Plaice.	Other Fish.	Total.
British Isles	1870	1015	1100	5496	9,481,000
Norway	352	834	. .	443	1,629,000
Denmark	117	60	171	223	571,000
Germany	220	64[1]	40[1]	512[1]	836,000
Holland	575	53	58	311	997,000
France (1902)	635	851[2]	. .	3562	5,048,000

The total value of the sea fisheries in the three chief subdivisions of the British Isles in the year 1905, according to the official returns, was as follows:

Fish landed in	Excluding Shellfish.	Including Shellfish.
England and Wales	£7,200,644	£7,502,768
Scotland	2,649,148	2,719,810
Ireland	360,577	414,364
Total	£10,210,369	£10,636,942

These figures show an increase of £1,000,000 as compared with the total value in 1900, and of more than £3,000,000 as compared with 1895 (cf. Table I. at end).

In England and Wales the trawl fisheries for cod, haddock, and flat fish yielded about three-quarters of the total, and the drift fisheries for herring and mackerel nearly the whole of the remaining quarter. The line fisheries in England and Wales are now relatively insignificant and yield only about one-fortieth of the total (cf. Table VIII. at end).

In Scotland, on the other hand, there is not so much difference in the relative importance of the three chief fisheries. In 1905 herrings and other net-caught fish yielded rather more than one-half of the total, the trawl fisheries nearly three-eighths, and the line fisheries one-eighth (cf. Table X.).

In Ireland the mackerel and herring fisheries provide nearly three-quarters of the total yield, the mackerel forming the chief item in the south and west, and the herring on the north and east coasts. The remaining quarter is mainly derived from the trawl fisheries, the headquarters of which are at Dublin, Howth and Balbriggan on the east, and at Galway and Dingle on the west coast.

The value of the fishing boats and gear employed in the Scottish fisheries during 1905 is returned as nearly £4,120,000. Upon a moderate estimate, the total value of the boats and gear employed in the fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland cannot be less than £12,000,000.

The relative yield and value of the various fisheries on the separate coasts of the British Isles is illustrated in the table of landings from the latest data available.

Fishery.	Trawl and Line.		Drift and Stake-nets.		Shellfish.
	Thousands  of cwt.	Thousands  of £.	Thousands  of cwt.	Thousands  of £.	Thousands  of £.
England and Wales, 1905—
East Coast	6017	4713	3042	1145	202
South Coast	303	245	728	268	64
West Coast	1002	720	219	111	36
Scotland, 1906—
East Coast	2296	1202	2709	819	25
Orkney and Shetland	114	42	1735	642	10
West Coast	148	62	591	210	38
Ireland, 1905—
North Coast	9	5	177	70	7
East Coast	79	70	110	32	18
South and West Coast	46	35	577	148	28

From these figures it is manifest that the yield and value of the east coast fisheries of England and Scotland preponderate enormously over those of the western coasts, whether attention be paid to the drift-net fisheries for surface fish or to the fisheries for bottom fish with trawls and lines.

The preceding statistics and remarks, as well as the supplementary tables at the end of this article, indicate that the British fishing industry has enjoyed a period of unexampled prosperity. The community at large has benefited by the more plentiful supply, and the merchant by the general lowering of prices at the ports of landing (see Tables I.-IV. at end). But it is to be noted that this wave of prosperity, as on previous occasions, has been attained by the application of increased and more powerful means of capture and by the exploitation of new fishing grounds in distant waters, and not by any increase, natural or artificial, in the productivity of the home waters,—unless perhaps the abundance of herrings is to be ascribed to the destruction of their enemies by trawling. British fisheries are still pursued as a form of hunting rather than of husbandry. In 1892 the Iceland and Bay of Biscay trawling banks were discovered, in 1898 the Faroe banks, in 1905 rich plaice grounds in the White Sea. In 1905 one-half of the cod and a quarter of the haddock and plaice landed at east coast ports of England were caught in waters beyond the North Sea.

Table showing, in Thousands of Cwt., the Quantity of Fish landed by Steam Trawlers on the East Coast of England from Fishing Grounds within and beyond the North Sea respectively.

Year.	Within the North Sea.				Beyond the North Sea.
	Cod.	Haddock.	Plaice.	All Kinds.	Cod.	Haddock.	Plaice.	All Kinds.
1903	729	2301	812	4776	470	389	114	1189
1904	637	2032	658	4228	447	429	284	1389
1905	640	1560	621	3739	603	518	244	1682

The statistics of the English Board of Agriculture and Fisheries have distinguished since 1903 between the catch of fish within and beyond the North Sea, and between the catch of trawlers and liners. Neglecting the catch of the liners as relatively insignificant, and of the sailing trawlers as relatively small and practically constant during the three years in question, we see from the board’s figures (see table above) that the total catch of English steam trawlers within the North Sea during 1904 and 1905 was in each year 500,000 cwt. less than in the year before, amounting to a gross decrease of more than 25% in 1905 as compared with 1903, and, in relation to the catching power employed, to an average decrease of 21/2 cwt. per boat per diem. This decrease may be largely explained by the occurrence in 1903 of one of those periodic “floods” of small cod and haddock which take place in the North Sea from time to time; but the steady decline in the number of North Sea voyages by English steam trawlers—from 29,300 in 1903 to 26,700 in 1905—affords a clear indication of the fact that many of our trawling skippers are deserting the North Sea for more profitable fishing grounds. The number of Scottish steam trawlers “employed” at Scottish North Sea ports has

1. Estimated as regards about one-third of the total.
2. Including the Newfoundland fishery.