The Fishing Industry

by William E. Gibbs

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.