FORLORN FISHERS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 238, 13 November 1909, Page 6

FORLORN FISHERS

THE NORTH SEA'S UAI!VESi'. The herring, despite his prolific power af reproduction, is being rapidly fished out of existence in the Nona Sea. owing to the introduction of steam trawlers, which are capable of securing hundreds of thousands of fish iu a single vulcn.

In Yarmouth, where the mcu work on the share system, the failing supply is causing great anxiety, and the fishing llcets are compelled to go to Icelaud, t'l-j Bay of Biscay, and the White Sea in order to find fish in paying quantities. Since the introduction of the steam trawlers, the number of which has increased by leaps and bounds in the last lew years, the North Sea has been .so ceaselessly raked and scraped that experts declare that the fish must have sen nil years' complete rest before trawIds can expect to make a decent linnl,' and many owners are seriously propo ■.-1 ing to transfer opcratiois to the Wet' Coast. I

Last year the steam trawlers were exceptionally busy draining the North S-.-i of its golden harvest. One day during August a catch of 170 "crans"—a "cran' : is about 1000 good-sized herrings-was landed by one Lowestoft hunt' aloii. ; whilst 7011.1)00 herrings were landed ,u the same time by other trawlers at Y-.i.--mouth and Grimsbv.

Tile record earning* for a season of thirteen weeks is V/iOOO for a steam r. and .£I2OO for a sailing boat; whilst Yarmouth fishermen tell of a crew which once made £440 iu a single night! Until recently it was'thought that the herring was absolutely inexhati.tibl", and to be retkoued by'millions and millions—indeed his name is derive 1 from the German word "Ileer," ■which signifies the multitude in which lie swims the seas, making that wonderful lighl upon the surface of the water known \s Lhi;. '•Herring Light." Herrings travel in huge shaals, often five or six miles long, and three or four miles broad, and it is this fact, coupled with the introduction of steam trawlers and other labor-saving devices for his destruction, which causes the herring to r be caught in such huge numbers. When it is realised that the annual catch of herring* in the North Sea alone during the last few years has been the almost unthinkable quantity of live hundred millions of fish—in 11107 it was (»0,000.000-it is not to l,e wondered ■,[ that the herring is beginning to feel a bit played out, and that experts are demanding a few years' "rest cure" on his behalf.

Few people when they purchase the tinned fish give a thought to the im-ill-use Home industry they are euppoitiiiL'. The Dogger Bank and North S.'a bring in more than .£10.000,000 a year, and more than 40,000 men are engaged in the work.

Mut Ihotisauds of other people are also all'ecicd. There are the fish-pack-•rs who deal with the herrings after th-y are landed, anil the box-makers and coopers. Hundreds <iT Scottish gills come down to the. Kust Coast every year to split her>*iigs iu readiness for kippeiing. There are the men in the curinghouses, the carters and porters, the fishsalesmen, the wholesale buyers, clerks, boat-builder*, 'ail-makers, rope-makers, net makers, and any amount more peo-, pie. all dependent on the herring harvest for tlio~ greater part of their daiiv bread.

But unless the draining of the North Sea can be stopped, the prosperity of •'Yarmouth will be no more. The coljs«al demands of steam trawlers and "fishsorting" special trains, are more ihan even the multitudinous herring can keep p-iee with. He must'have a "rest-cure'' immediately.