In its essential features the story of the gradual rise and development of the fishing industry closely resembles that of its sister industry, agriculture. In both cases man became skilled in harvesting long before he understood anything of the art of cultivation. Primitive man roamed from place to place in the wake of the annual wave of harvest, gathering wild crops of grain, berries and fruits. Ultimately he became alive to the significance of seed, and the nomad settled down to raise crops year after year in the same place. Gradually he acquired a knowledge of the conditions of temperature, moisture, and quality of soil that favoured the growth of his plants. Finally, he discovered the principle of the rotation of crops, and, by this, not only increased the productivity of his land but also laid the foundations of a systematic agriculture. Of recent years agriculture has been rapidly developing into a science. Chemistry, physics, botany, plant physiology, and bacteriology, all contribute increasingly to a full understanding of the inner processes of the growing plant, and indicate more and more clearly the exact relations that exist between the conditions of growth and the character and amount of the resulting product.

The art of fishing is one of the oldest in the world, yet even to this day the fisherman is simply a hunter, gathering where he has not sown, and differing little, save in mechanical efficiency, from his primitive ancestor fishing with spear and trap.

Only in recent years has any systematic attempt been made to understand something of the forces that produce the annual harvest of the sea. We know very little about the habits of the various fishes that constitute this harvest—their food, their migrations, their reproductive processes, and, in general, the conditions upon which their healthy life and development depend. We have developed highly efficient fishing implements, but we have yet to learn to use them wisely and not too well; to increase the fertility of the various fishing grounds rather than depopulate them by over-fishing and the destruction of immature fish.

The fisherman’s harvest differs from that of the farmer in one important respect. Fishes grow for three or four, or more, years before they are mature. Now, only mature fish as a rule have any considerable commercial value, and only mature fish are able to reproduce their kind and so maintain the existence of the fishery. On the fishing grounds, both mature and immature fish are mingled together, and in capturing the one it is practically impossible to avoid netting the other. To some extent the capture of immature fish is avoided by making the mesh of the net of such a size that the smaller fish can escape. With drift nets only mature fish are caught, the small ones escaping; but with trawl nets it is otherwise. The trawl net is essentially a large string bag that is drawn open-mouthed along the sea bottom, scooping up wholesale all bottom-living fish, such as cod, haddock, sole and plaice. All go into the net, both large and small, and, although the young fish ultimately escape through the meshes, many of them are damaged in so doing, while many young, flat fish, lying on the sea bottom, are damaged by the foot rope of the net, as it passes over them. Certain fishing grounds, such as the Dogger Bank, were almost depopulated of flat fish in the years just previous to the war.

Fortunately for the future of the fisheries, the trawl, can only be worked on smooth ground, and at depths not exceeding two hundred and fifty fathoms, so that only a small percentage of the actual fishing grounds is affected by it. Also, when a fishing ground shows signs of becoming exhausted by over-fishing, it is less frequented by fishermen, owing to the reduced catches that can be obtained, and thus it tends automatically to recover. Nevertheless, it is desirable that fishing should be so organized and restrained, that the fertility of the fishing grounds is not imperilled. In the distant future it may become possible to re-stock partially exhausted grounds with young fish, artificially reared in a hatchery.

Oceanography—the study of the ocean and its inhabitants—is one of the youngest of sciences. Yet, to an island people such as we are, it should be one of the most important, for it is only by the study of oceanography that we can hope to found a systematic, organized aquiculture.

The beginning of a simple aquiculture is to be seen in the cultivation of shellfish, such as oysters and mussels, by the inshore fishermen.

Of recent years, experiments have been carried out by the Fishery Boards of England, Scotland, Germany, and the United States of America, with the object of increasing the productivity of certain fishing grounds by adding large numbers of artificially hatched, young fish. For some years the Fishery Board for Scotland added annually about twenty million plaice larvae to certain confined sea areas (Upper Loch Fyne), and found, as a result, that the number of young plaice on the shallow beaches was doubled.

In some cases a new species of fish has been introduced into a particular fishing ground, with marked success. Thus the U.S.A. fisheries collected and hatched the eggs of the shad on the Atlantic coast and introduced the larvae into the Pacific, with the result that a profitable shad fishery has now been established on the Californian coast.

The application of science to the fishing industry is not restricted to biological investigations of the food, habits and development of living fishes. It is developing new processes for the better preservation of edible fish for food purposes, so that the large quantities of fish caught periodically—for example, in the summer herring fishery—may be stored up for gradual consumption during the winter. It has shown that fish waste can be manufactured into glue, cattle food, and fertilizers. It has developed into a profitable industry the extraction of oils from both edible and inedible fish, and the conversion of these oils into hard fats, suitable for the manufacture of soap and margarine. It has demonstrated that the skins of certain fish, notably the shark, can be tanned to make excellent leather.

With the exception of these pioneer experiments and investigations, however, the fishing industry of to-day is simply an organized art—the art of catching wild fish. The story of the industry is essentially a description of the methods that are used for capturing the various species of fish that are of commercial importance, and for handling, curing, and disposing of the catch.

Great Britain is situated in the midst of the greatest fishing grounds of the world. The British fishing industry is the most efficient and the most highly developed of any. Consequently, since fishing methods are essentially the same everywhere, it will be sufficient for us to consider, with few exceptions, the methods and equipment that are used by our own fishermen around our own shores.

There is direct evidence that, as early as the third century, A.D., fish were caught in considerable quantities round the coast of Britain by the natives and used as food. Little is known about the early development of a fishing industry in this country. We know that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, fish was in demand throughout the country, partly because of the religious observance of fast days, and partly, no doubt, because it afforded a welcome change in the regular winter diet of salted meat. In those days there was no winter root crop, so that cattle were killed in autumn and salted down for consumption during the winter.

In disposing of their catch, the fishermen were handicapped by the almost complete lack of transport facilities from the coast inland. Their produce would be distributed by pack-horse, so that fresh fish would be practically unknown beyond a distance of a few miles from the coast. Consequently, all fish for inland markets were salted. The fish were pickled in brine, as the art of dry-salting was then unknown in this country.

To develop a successful fishing industry, it was necessary, then, as it is to-day, either to dispose of the catch quickly on the spot, or to preserve the fish so that it could be transported to distant markets. In 1347, a Dutchman, William Beukels, of Biervelt, invented an improved means of curing and pickling herring, which was essentially the modern process of gutting the fish and packing them in dry salt. At this time the Baltic herring fishery, carried on by the Hanseatic League, dominated the markets of Europe. But the new method of curing, exploited by the Dutch, improved the quality and keeping powers of the fish to such an extent that, by the end of the fifteenth century, the Dutch fishing industry was supreme, and had become a powerful and valuable national enterprise. In the sixteenth century, as many as two thousand Dutch herring “busses” (as the boats were called) would gather on St. John’s day at Brassa Sound, in the Shetlands, to begin the summer herring fishery. The fish were caught with drift nets, were salted and packed in barrels, and carried home by the fast-sailing, attendant “yaggers.” Ashore they were repacked in fresh salt in new barrels. Over a million barrels were packed in a year. When caught, the fish would be worth about a million pounds, and when retailed about two million pounds. Contemporary illustrations of the methods of curing and salting then in use reveal the astonishing fact that even to the smallest detail the methods that were employed in Holland in Elizabeth’s day are identical with those that are employed at Yarmouth to-day.

As a direct result of the great development of their trade in salted herrings, the Dutch gradually gained a naval and maritime supremacy in Europe which they maintained until it was wrested from them by the English.

English sea-power in the early years of the sixteenth century was in a decadent condition. The ports and harbours had been neglected, and had become silted up, so that the condition of the shipping industry in general, and of the Navy in particular, had reached a very low ebb. In 1561, Mr. Secretary Cecil, alarmed by the growing menace of the Dutch naval ascendancy, proposed three remedies for restoring the strength and importance of the navy. He proposed:

(1) That the fishing industry be promoted, as it provided a valuable recruiting ground for the navy;

(2) That merchandise be extended, and so provide increased employment for the shipping industry;

(3) That piracy be encouraged, privately-owned privateers forming valuable auxiliaries in time of war.

He thought that the fishing industry could be stimulated immediately by renewing the fast days, which had fallen into disuse since the abolition of the monasteries.

He suggested that two days a week—Wednesday and Friday—should be meatless days.

In 1563, he tried a measure of Protection, a Navigation Act being passed, making it illegal to buy or sell foreign-caught fish, and attempts were made to prevent Dutch and other foreigners from fishing in English waters. These measures, although passed by Parliament, do not appear to have been enforced.

James I issued two proclamations, imposing licences and dues upon foreign fishing vessels fishing in British waters. No attention was paid to these, and it was left to Charles I, some years later, to enforce them. Other steps taken by both Charles I and Charles II consisted mainly in the formation of Royal Fishery Companies. Various fishery companies and societies succeeded one another up to the end of the eighteenth century. They do not appear to have been successful in establishing a flourishing fishing industry, and in 1718 (George I) an act was passed by which fishermen were to be rewarded for their catch by a bounty. Bounties were to be paid for several kinds of fish: thus, for every barrel of white herrings of 32 gallons, exported beyond the seas, the bounty was 2s. 8d.; for full red herrings, 1s. 9d. per barrel; for empty red herrings, 1s. per barrel.

The conditions upon which the bounty was to be paid were fully set forth in a later act in 1750 (George II). The construction of herring vessels was encouraged by a bounty of 30s. per ton, paid out of the Customs, for decked fishing vessels of from twenty to eighty tons.

The time and place of fishing were stipulated, as well as rules for the proper management and prosecution of the fishery. Each vessel was to have on board twelve Winchester bushels of salt for every last of fish such vessel was capable of holding, the salt to be contained in new barrels.

In 1757, the bounty was increased to 50s. per ton, but was reduced to 30s. again in 1771. It was further reduced to 20s. in 1787, and an additional bounty of 4s. per barrel added. This was made proportional to the tonnage, so that no vessel could claim more than 30s. per ton—unless the vessel caught over three barrels per ton, in which case a bounty of 1s. per barrel was granted upon the surplus quantity.

While the bounty often undoubtedly encouraged the development of the fishery, the development was not so rapid or so extensive as it would otherwise have been, owing to the duty on imported salt. The weight of the duty was such that the fishermen threw fish overboard rather than cure it, only landing that which could be brought in fresh.

In 1808 the bounty was raised to £3 per ton on every British built and British owned fishing boat of not less than sixty tons burden, properly manned, registered, and navigated and employed in herring fishing. The maximum tonnage on which the bounty was payable was one hundred tons. Two shillings per barrel was paid on properly cured and packed herrings.

After the peace of 1815, the naval wars and the press gangs had reduced the sea fisheries to negligible proportions, but the existing bounties were continued until 1829, and encouraged the rapid revival of the industry. By 1829, the fishing industry was well established, and thereafter steadily developed in value and importance.

The modern organization and development of the fishing industry began between 1870 and 1880, following the introduction of steam fishing vessels. The old sailing smacks and drifters were necessarily limited in their scope and capacity. They could only fish in certain weathers; they required skilled handling; their effective area of operation was restricted by the necessity for bringing the catch ashore as fresh as possible; their trawling power depended upon the wind.

A sail boat was generally the property of a small family group of fishermen, who worked the boat and fished, while one of their number—the ship’s husband—stayed ashore to purchase stores and tackle, and dispose of the catch. The proceeds of the boat were shared among the owners. These privately owned sail boats were to be found in every little harbour on every coast of Britain. The fishermen themselves were a fine, sturdy, independent class of men, skilful seamen, and all-round fishermen, able to turn their hands to any form of fishing, whether lining, trawling, or drifting.

The introduction of steam trawlers and drifters has completely changed the character and organization of the fishing industry. Instead of being individualistic, it has become collective, and instead of being the common industry of every seaside village, it has become controlled by large limited liability companies, and centralized in a few large ports.

Steamers were first used in 1870, to collect the catch from the sail boats on the fishing grounds, bringing it home with all speed while the fishing boats remained at sea. This naturally enabled the fishing boats to catch more fish, and also made possible the use of larger boats fishing further afield. A logical development of this step was the construction of actual steam-driven fishing boats—trawlers and drifters. These steamers soon proved to be superior to the sail boats. They were able to fish in all weathers, even in a calm. Owing to their greater power, also, they were able to use much larger nets and fish in deeper waters.

Steam trawlers and drifters are much more expensive than smacks or sailing drifters. They can only be berthed and handled satisfactorily in harbours that are equipped for the unloading and dispatching of large quantities of fish. From the very beginning these steamers were owned by large limited companies rather than by individuals, and the industry has tended to become more and more centralized at certain large ports, for example, Aberdeen, Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Milford Haven, and Fleetwood. The rise and development of many of these ports, for example, Aberdeen and Fleetwood, has been in direct response to the demands made upon them by the new steam fishing industry.

The introduction of steam fishing made longer voyages possible, and led to the development of new fishing grounds. Steam trawlers from British ports now fish as far north as Iceland and the White Sea, as far west as Newfoundland, and as far south as Morocco, making voyages of many week’s duration.

The re-organization of the fishing industry led to specialization amongst the fishermen themselves. The old sailing fisherman was essentially an all-round man. He was equally expert at lining, drifting and trawling. The skipper of a steamer, however, is a specialist; he is either a liner-, a drifter-, or a trawler-man. Generally, also, he keeps to a given region—Iceland, the White Sea, the North of Scotland, the North Sea, or the Bay of Biscay.

In the three years preceding the war (1911 to 1914) the development of the steam fishing industry had become almost stationary. This was probably due in part to over-capitalization, resulting in lower profits. It was feared also that the greatly increased efficiency of the steam trawlers tended to produce a condition of over-fishing in certain areas, with the result that catches obtained in those areas progressively diminished; for example, the average catch per boat per day in the North Sea during three successive periods was as follows—

The fishermen became alarmed and development was arrested. This tendency to over-fish certain grounds has been effectively checked during the war by the almost complete cessation of offshore fishing. There is thus every probability that such grounds have now recovered, and further that, in many cases, grounds such as the Dogger Bank, that had become almost depopulated, will have become restocked.

The successful development of steam fishing has necessarily reacted upon the prosperity of the individual fishermen in the various fishing villages, with their smaller, privately-owned sail boats. They were faced with two alternatives: either to combine together to acquire steamers, and so maintain their position in the offshore fisheries, or to devote their attention to the development of inshore fishing. Many of the larger sailing drifters have now been fitted with petrol engines, which make it possible for them to compete with the steam drifters for herring and mackerel.

Generally speaking, however, the outlook for the small fishermen of the English and Scottish coast villages—the real fisher folk—is discouraging. The tendency of legislation, however, just before the war was to encourage this class of fishermen by restricting the operations of the steam trawlers in certain localities. In 1910-1914, with the object of protecting the inshore fishermen, the Fishery Board of Scotland prohibited trawling in the Moray Firth area, only drifting and lining being permitted. Since this prohibition only applied to British subjects, certain East Coast fishing companies evaded it by transferring their vessels to foreign flags, registering them in a foreign port and employing a foreigner as a dummy skipper. The Board secured convictions against these offenders in the Sheriff’s Court, but the convictions were upset subsequently by the Foreign Office. The original prohibition was then strengthened by a new law which made it illegal to land fish in Scotland, if caught by vessels registered in a foreign port.

During the war, the inshore fisherman found himself in a comparatively advantageous position, as the high price of coal made steam fishing less profitable. Further, the offshore trawling grounds were mostly closed, and the majority of the steam trawlers and drifters were on war-service. For the time being, therefore, inshore fishing with smacks was placed at an advantage.

A number of fishermen’s co-operative societies were formed to organize the sale and distribution of the produce of these inshore fisheries. This also tended to make the position of the inshore fisherman more secure.

The old order changeth, and although there is that connected with this transformation in the fishing industry which is to be regretted, yet, on the whole, the developments of the past forty years have undoubtedly transformed the fishing industry into a very efficient and valuable national asset. Individually, the present-day steam fisherman is very much inferior to his sailing predecessor. The centralization of the industry in a few big ports, although undoubtedly making for much greater efficiency, bears hardly on the type of the old class of expert fishermen; but these are the almost inevitable consequences of such a transition.

But what is the present condition of the industry, and what is its future likely to be? The prosperity of the inshore fisherman, as well as that of his offshore rival, is vitally important to the welfare of this country; there should be room and opportunity enough for both. The inshore fisherman, protected by legislation and secured by well-organized co-operation, can increase very considerably the amount of our available home-grown food supply. The superior power and equipment of the big steam trawlers and drifters, properly utilized and encouraged, should be one of the most valuable industrial assets of the State. We are not a great food-producing nation; on the contrary, in the years before the war, we actually imported more than 40 per cent of our total food requirements. We are surrounded by seas that teem with every form of edible fish. British enterprise has built up a fishing industry which is the greatest and most efficient in the world. In 1914, our fishing boats were practically equal in numbers and equipment to those of all the other countries in North-West Europe put together. Nearly 70 per cent of the fishing boats in the North Sea were British. The total produce of our sea fisheries has nearly doubled since the beginning of the century. The annual catch in the last few years before the war averaged over a million tons. It was worth about fifteen million pounds when landed, and may be valued at nearly fifty million pounds by the time it reached the consumers. Of all this splendid food that is obtained at our very doors by our own people, less than half is retained for consumption in this country. Out of 600,000 tons of herrings landed annually in this country before the war, over 500,000 were exported, chiefly to European countries. Herrings have a high food value, and contain a large amount of easily digested fat, and if all the herrings landed in this country were consumed at home, it would only allow two herrings a week to each adult individual in all the population. An increased home consumption of fish, would effect a corresponding saving in imported meat.

Owing to this remarkably small home demand for fish, the fisherman has had to depend upon foreign markets, chiefly Germany, Poland, Russia and the Levant. The present adverse rate of exchange with these countries, and the increased cost of fishing operations, make it impossible for the foreign importer to take our fish, except on terms which our fishermen cannot consider. These markets are therefore closed, and unless other outlets are found for its produce, the industry will be threatened with ruin.

In 1920, the Government guaranteed the cure of herrings up to 880,000 barrels; unfortunately, they were only able to dispose of them in European markets at a great loss. The Government, therefore, have decided this year (1921) to withdraw their guarantee.

It would seem that, in view of the present failure of the foreign markets, vigorous steps should be taken to encourage the consumption of fish in this country, and so preserve this valuable industry from ruin. A national scheme of development should be inaugurated, having for its objects, (1) the systematic exploitation of local and periodic coastal fisheries; (2) the discovery of methods of preserving for future consumption fish that cannot be disposed of just when it is caught; (3) the education of the public to use more freely the large supplies of excellent fish food that are available at our very doors.