FISHERIES

dealing first with british fisheries, it may be said that during the 20th century development has been rather slow, having been directed rather to the perfection of existing classes of boats and nets than to new inventions. the otter is still the chief net for trawling from steam vessels. its mouth must be given as wide a gape as possible, so that floats and other devices are being employed to prevent its upper rope from sagging so as to close its aperture; a third otter board is sometimes used in this position. the same trawl, but with reduced mesh, is also dragged to catch fish swimming near the bottom, particularly herrings; further development in midwater fishing in the deeper oceanic areas seems probable. seining, or the surrounding of areas by netting so as to enclose the fish, a method extended by the danes, is now generally pursued in all the shallower waters of the north sea; it results in large catches, particularly of haddock and plaice, the fish arriving in less bruised condition than after the long haul of the sac-like trawl. surface fishing.—surtface fishing methods show little change; they are now mainly practised by steam drifters, which follow the successive shoaling of herrings from the northwest coasts of scotland in jan. to the shetlands and, down the east coast of great britain, to lowestoft in october. trawling.—steam trawlers varying up to 145 it. in length have still further replaced sailing vessels, fleets of the latter only being maintained at lowestoft (136 vessels), brixham (90), ramsgate (25), and plymouth (12). experiments in the utilisa- tion of oil fuel are now proceeding. these changes mean the further concentration of the industry in large ports and under companies or big firms. the hake is now generally recognised as a table fish and is trawled as far south as the moroccan coast to depths of 250 fathoms; this fishery, in association also with that of soles and skate, has resulted in important fishery develop- ments in milford ilaven, swansea and cardiff. to the north, trawlers regularly fish in the barents sea and off iceland, and trial voyages have been made from hull to the greenland banks (1925); otherwise there is little increase in the fishing area. the norway haddock (sedasees) is now regularly marketed at aberdcen, and the sea bream and skate have generally found favour. in recent years the inshore fisheries have been greatly helped by a loan scheme of the development commissioners for the installation of motors in the smaller sailing craft; a further fisher, i.—fisheries scheme on business lines for the insurance of inshore fishing craft has also been financed by the commissioners, thus giving the inshore industry the power to secure its capital. on other sides the production of sterilised ice is a development of im- portance, and an entirely efficient method of preservation by freezing in brine has been perfected, but not yet applied in great britain. the use of fish waste to form nutritive fish meals has been undertaken in the greater ports, and on the retail side fish-frying shops have so immensely increased that they form an important factor in the feeding of town populations. european fisheries european countries, bordering on the atlantic, show in their high-sea fisheries similar changes to those of great britain and are serious competitors on most fishing grounds. norway, in particular, has developed all its fisheries; its export trade of salt cod and other fish products is of importance. russia, the oceanic fisheries of which have to some degree retrograded, has interfered on several occasions with british trawlers working off her northern coasts; here, as also off iceland, spain, norway and morocco the maintenance of the territorial limit of three miles is regarded by the british fishing industry as of vital interest. france shows development in all the fisheries of the bay of biscay, especially in sardines and tunny; her trawling fleet has increased and her larger boats still proceed on regular annual voyages to the newfoundland banks and to ireland. spain and portugal are more organised and have extended the catching power of their fisheries, but still confine their voyages to adjacent waters. american, asiatic and african fisheries with increase of population the importance of fisheries is more widely realised, and, in north america, the united states and canada have pursued an active policy of development in both fresh and salt waters; they export large quantities of canned and frozen salmon to europe. newfoundland is still mainly exporting salt-dried cod, not having as yet adequately exploited her large shoals of herring and her salmon. asia—japan shows advance in every direction, and new zealand and various states of the commonwealth of australia are concerned with the exploitation of their fishing grounds. africa.—south africa, which has extensive areas of suitable depths to the south and west, maintains a trawler fleet, while a crayfish fishery has been opened off natal. many trawlers were sold after the war to go to tropical countries, but so far system- atic fishing in such waters by large power vessels has not proved profitable. the largest areas of suitable depths still almost unfished are between the falklands and patagonia and in that great bay to the east of the malay peninsula. the ‘ discovery ” expedition to south georgia should throw light on the possibility of southern grounds, while the malay govt. has a research steamer on the stocks (1926). the industry in great britain during the war in 1914 there were about 100,000 fishermen of all classes in great britain. practically 40% of these at once joined the navy, while over 10% quickly responded to the urgent appeals of the military authorities. about 3,000 steam fishing vessels, trawlers and drifters in about equal numbers, were requisitioned for service, and many more were built for the same purpose. they were largely manned by fishermen recruited from those still fishing; often a requisitioned vessel carried her whole crew with her. they were employed in the auxiliary patrol, in mine-swecping from the white sea to the straits of marmora and in all operations necessary to keep the sea open for the operations of the british fleet, for the transport of troops and material to france, for the advent of forces from oversea colonies and the united states, and, above all, for the due arrival of food from every part of the world. the few vessels left continued fishing, and a system of fleets fishing in selected areas under the pro- tection of their own guns and those of the navy was devised. the success of this was seen in the fourth year of the war, only 4 steam trawlers being sunk by enemy submarines as compared with 156 in the previous year. by the middle of 1917 there were only about 14,000 men still fishing, of whom over 10,000 were over age or unfit for service. yet in the same year about 8 million cwts. of fish were landed, about 40% of the average annual catch for the 20 years preceding the war; the value, however, was nearly the same. fisheries arrangements were made whereby belgian and dutch fishing ves- sels were based on british ports. the shell-fish industry was fostered and developed. the deficiency in fish was further reduced by im- portation, particularly from norway and holland. reconstruction problems.—the reconstruction of the industry after the war presented problems of peculiar difficulty owing to the rapid fall in the price of fish, while all commodities used in the industry remained at over double pre-war costs. the greatest difficulty of all was to preserve the herring fishery, which depended for its existence on the export of about 80°, of its catch to germany and russia as brine-cured herring, thus differing from the trawl fishery, the output of which is absorbed by the home market. the fishermen concerned had taken an essential and vital part in national defence, and their industry was threatened with complete annihilation, the loss of its skilled craftsmen and the rotting of its boats. the govern- ment took over the finance, and thus practically the management of this fishery by the ‘‘ herring guarantees '’ of i919 and 1920. the cost of this bold and unprecedented action amounted to £1,712,675. ft was eminently successful, for the industry, thus re-established, survived a disastrous seasonal fluctuation in 1921 and now again flourishes, aided by good subsequent years and a new export trade of fresh herrings to the continent. administration.—the interests of the fishing industry are cared for by the fisheries department of the ministry of agriculture and fisheries, by the fishery board for scotland and by corresponding departments in ulster and the irish free state. there is a series of local county sea fisheries committees around the coasts of england and of boards of conservators of certain salmon rivers; they are responsible for local by-laws for their territorial waters and rivers, but any such can be disallowed by the central authority. there are practically no restrictive regulations to administer, the central departments being maintained to help and foster the industry in the interests of the state. the high seas outside territorial waters are open to the fishermen of all countries and supply about 96% of the british catch, the larger trawlers and drifters not being allowed to fish within territorial waters. under powers sanctioned by parlia- ment in 1889, the moray firth was closed to british trawlers, but this regulation is not enforceable against the trawlers of other na- tions outside the three-mile limit. for the most part the govern- ment departments act as expert intermediaries in the interests of the industry with all the government offices concerned (admiralty, board of trade, foreign office, etc.), with market authorities and with railways. officers are stationed in all the larger ports to help and advise the fishermen and to keep the ministry informed of cur- rent fishery matters. the organisation of the statistics relating to the industry has been mainly the work of the english ministry, difficulties due to the necessarily rapid handling of the fish on arrival in ports having to be overcome by the devising of unobjection- able tests and checks of all sorts. scientific investigations.—the fishery departments of eng- land, scotland and the irish free state have each a scientilic division, and each has its own research vessel with headquarters respectively at lowestoft, aberdeen and dublin. the irish vessel is also used for local policing purposes, as also is a further vessel under the lancashire and north western sea fisheries committee. fisheries protection on the high seas is a function of the navy. great britain also maintains a staif of fish measurers, who go to sea on commercial fishing vessels. something of the kind is done by other countries. international investigations in 1902 the international council for the exploration of the sea was organised, denmark, germany, england, finland, the netherlands, norway, russia and sweden being signatories to an agreement for the pursuit of scientific research into all the waters off northern europe. it naturally became inactive during the war, but was reconstructed in 1920, france then giving her adhesion. it now includes all the countries of western europe except germany and russia. each country according to its means maintains research vessels, and each works on a determinate scheme, settled at the annual mecting, at which the facts collected are discussed. the departments of scotland and ireland organised scientitic divisions to carry on their share of the work, but that of england was managed until r910 by the marine biological association. the international council is divided into statistical, hydro- graphical, limnological and plankton committees, together with committees for the following areas: north sea, baltic sea, atlantic slope, north western (iceland, faroes, etc.), north eastern (off norway and arctic), with, as their first care, to consider the practical fishery problems arising, or likely to arise, 37 in their own areas. its greatest accomplishment of recent years has been the organisation of the collection of statistics of all countries concerned on a uniform basis, the form adopted being largely that of the statistical branch of the ministry of agri- culture and fisheries. problems investigated.—the main problem before the council is to trace to their causes the fluctuations to which statistics show that all the great fisheries are subject. to this end the council has organised a gencral programme of biological work for all its members, co-operative research, the results of which are generally published nationally. in great britain there was a fear that the arcas of the principal fisheries were being overfished ; the fish supposed of most importance here was the plaice, as to which there were no reliable statistics, while its life-history was little known. consequently a large part of the research power of england and scotland has been concentrated on this fish, and the depletion of the plaice fishery of the north sea by over- fishing almost to the limits of safety has been established. various remedics have been suggested and carefully examined, such as regulating the size of the mesh of nets employed, pro- hibiting the sale of undersized fish, and completely or partially enclosing some of the nursery grounds. the first, so far, has been found to be impracticable, as the trawl has to catch round as well as flat fishes, but experiments with a view to over- coming the difficulties are being made. the second would entail undesirable regulations and costly inspection. in respect to the third, the closure of the north sea during the war formed a gigantic experiment, the catch by english vessels in this sea increasing from 24,000 tons in 1913 to 33,000 in 1920, but falling to 22,000 tons in 1923. the fall was clearly due to overfishing, as shown by steam trawler average daily catches of 2-1, 3-4 and 1-9 cwts. of plaice in the three years respectively. the difficulty of closing areas lies in the necessity of negotiating international agreements, as all desirable areas to be closed are outside the limits of territorial waters to the east of the north sea. other notable reports of the international council, which has its headquarters at copenhagen, and of the british iishery departments deal with the natural history and growth of the herring, of the plaice and of the cod, the determination of the water movements of the north atlantic, the deposits of the north sea, the movements of certain fish as shown by marking experiments, and the transplantation of plaice to the dogger bank. a report of the english ministry describes the gear employed in 1923 and a report of a treasury committee published in rg08 in the evidence recorded gives a full account of nearly every aspect of the fishing industry as it then existed. the annual administrative reports of the english and scotch departments should also be consulted. the researches of the government departments concerned are also largely aided by the work of the staffs of scientific marine laboratories situated at plymouth, cullercoats, millport and port erin, each of which has its public aquarium. these, while founded by private enterprise, are materially assisted by grants from the devclopment commission, on the recognition of the well-known fact that economic results usually follow scientific researches. of these the largest is plymouth with special depart- ments for zoology, physiology and fisheries; it is the property of the marine biological assn., which in its journal, by agreement, publishes the result of research from all the bnitish marine laboratories. statistics of the industry the approximate total value of the sea fisheries catch of the countries of western europe in 1922 amounted to £48,000,000 (british is., 39-5%; france, 17-6%} spain, 15:5%3; norway, 75°; denmark, 5°5; holland, 4°%5; portugal, 3-4%9; germany, 3:3%). canadian fisheries in 1924 were $44,500,000 (provinces: atlantic, $17,500,000, inland, $5,500,000 and pacific $21,500,000) ; pacific salmon, $13,000,000 and atlantic lobsters, $4,000,000; over 60° was exported. the recorded values for the united states in 1923 were about the same, but the inland fisheries were $13,000,000; exports were $12,000,000. great britain crait catches employed employment principal pelagic fish cwts. 2nd class ist class demersal fish cwts. regu- | irregu- lar 6,602 | 5,203 | 67,962 5,581 | 6,227 | 61,683 | 10,925 4,921 | 5,777 | 54,610 | 8,947 this table shows vividly the modifications which have taken place in the fishing industry of great britain during the period under review. the type of fishing-boat has also changed greatly. in 1913, 3,233 steam-boats (3,222 1st class and 11 2nd class boats) were employed. in 1924, the number was 3,087, of which 3; 078 were ist class. motor-craft, however, increased from 842 in 1913 (335 1st class and 507 ond class) to 4, 311 in 1924 (1,192 ist class and 3,119 2nd class). sailing craft in 1913 were 7,730 (3,045 1st class and 4,685 2nd class), while in 1924 they were 3,300 (651 1st class and 2,649 2nd class). corresponding figures are not available from other countries where statistics are based oh different data and collected by different methods. bibliograpity.—]. t. jenkins, the sea fisheries (1920); w. gibbs, the fishing industry (1922); british ministry of adie aar. and fisheries: fishery investigation reports. report of the food of plaice, ser. 2, vol. 2, no. 3 (1915); a review of the methods of age and growth determination in’ fishes by means of scales, ser. 2, vol. 4, part 2 (1920); report on iterring trawling (1922), ser. 2, vol. 4, no. 4 (1922); the macroplankton of the plaice egg cruises (1920- -i), ser. 2, vol. 5, no. 6 (1923); the plaice indusiry and the war, ser. 2, vol, 5, 1 no. 3 (1923). (j. s.4a.") fishing: see angling. fitzmaurice-kelly, james (1857-1923), british man of letters, was born in glasgow june 20 1857. educated at st. charles’s college, london, he became taylorian lecturer in spanish at oxford in 1902. from 1909 to 1916 he was gilmour professor of spanish language and literature at the university of liverpool; and in 1908 and 1912 norman maccoll lecturer at cambridge university. during 1907 and 1908 he lectured for the hispanic society of america at various american universities and at london university. in 1916 he was appointed cervantes professor of spanish language and literature at the university of london, a post he held till his resignation in 1920. among his numerous published works should be mentioned the life of miguel de cervantes saavedra (1892); an introduction to the editio princeps of don quixote (1898-9); a history of spanish litera- ture (1898); cervantes in england (1905); miguel de cervantes: a memoir (1913); cervantes and shakes peare (1916); gengora (1918); and fray luis de leon (1921). he edited among other publica- tions, the oxford book of spanish verse (1913) and the com- plete works of miguel de cervantes saavedra (1g01-— yj}. he died at sydenham, london, nov. 30 1923. fiume (slav “ rijeka ”’ both meaning ‘“ the river ’’), a port on the adriatic (see 10.449). as the only port of hungary, fiume had had little history, but the city sprang into world-wide noto- riety and became a burning question after the world war. the question of fiume even threatened to become the cause of a fur- ther war between italy and yugoslavia. the ‘‘secret’”’ treaty of london of april 26 1913, which contained italy’s terms for entering into the war, assigned fiume to croatia, and senator tittoni (subsequently minister of foreign affairs) informed the writer that baron sonnino who negotiated that treaty for italy, never once asked for fiume; had he done so at that time, he could have had it for the asking. this point is important, be- cause the italian press afterwards blamed the allies for “ refus- ing ” fiume to italy. the italian claims.—the first italian claim to fiume was made by sig. bissolati immediately after his resignation from the cabinet at the end of 1918. baron sonnino’s inaction in this matter was due to the fact that in rors he had neither antici- pated, nor desired, the total breakup of the dual monarchy, but wished, while annexing the purely italian provinces of aus- 11,613,066 12,573,805 10,880,251 10,769,178 8,333,991 9,800,481 13,150 fishing—fiume tria, to leave fiume to hungary, instead of including it, asa future rival to trieste and venice, among the italian ports at the head of the adriatic. but in 1919 the official italians de- manded tiume on the principle of ‘ self-determination,” be- cause the majority of its inhabitants was italian, and largely so if fiume proper were separated from its yugoslav suburb of susak on the opposite side of the rivulet, which had given to fiume its name, and which the slavs called simply re¢ina, and the italians ‘‘ eneo ”’—a poetical title for so prosaic a stream. | that fiume was in 19rg predominantly italian is true, but the italian element had immigrated within comparatively recent years; the very detailed description of fiume about 1855 by charles lever (the british consul at trieste) in his novel, that boy of norcott’s, mentions slavs and hungarians but never italians there. meanwhile, on oct. 23 1918, croat troops had seized fiume and in nov. there was a dual occupation, against which the yugoslav national council protested, by italian and serbian troops, while italian naval forces entered the harbour. the serbian troops were, however, withdrawn and replaced by. americans, pending the decision of the fiume question by the peace conference. the italians’ position was similar to that known in english law as ‘“ pleading inconsistent defences.” they claimed north dalmatia, overwhelmingly slav by race, in virtue of the treaty of london, which president wilson repu- diated, and fiume in virtue of the wilson principle of “ self- determination.” the dannunzio adventure —they ultimately obtained fiume, thanks to the raid made by gabriele d’annunzio, who mustered a body of men at ronchi near trieste, and on sept. 12 19019 occupied the contested town. there despite official notes, he remained as “ commandant,” offering to a prosaic age the spec- tacle of a poet as governor, and surrounding a commonplace town with the glamour of his dithyrambic speeches. he drew up a constitution for the “‘ carnaro,” as he called his minia- ture state, and soon fiuman divorces became the fashion for italians unable to dissolve their marriages at home. he deliv- ered frequent speeches, and represented the oppressed nationali- ties of the whole world as looking to fiume, “ the holocaust city,’’ for consolation in their affliction. he descended with his ‘legionaries’’’ upon zara and meditated an extension of his territories still farther southward. while successive italian governments gave him no official support, he received consid- erable sympathy from the nationalist elements in italy and was regarded with corresponding aversion by the yugoslavs, whose prowess in the middle ages he had sung in a poem of encyclopaedic erudition at the outset of the war. but when signor giolitti in 1920 became for the last time premier and concluded the treaty of rapallo with the yugoslavs, he resolved to turn the poet out of fiume, and that eminently common-sense politician did so by force. the ‘‘ commandant’s ” official residence was bombarded by the “andrea doria,” and he narrowly escaped the martyrdom which he had proclaimed for himself and his followers, a “ holocaust ” for his country. after the ‘‘ heroic age ”’ of his rule there came the prosaic interlude of his local rival, sig. zanella, who represented the autonomous, as opposed to the italian national, party, and aimed at bringing about a good understanding with yugoslavia. a coup d'etat by fascisti and “ legionaries ”’ took place in 1922; the government offices were stormed; sig. zanella abdicated in favour of a ‘‘ gov- ernment of national defence,” and was escorted over the fron- tier in an armoured car; sig. prodan, a local engineer, succeeded him, and annexation to italy was proclaimed. official italy, however, acted with caution and persuaded sig. giurati, a fascista deputy, to decline the proffered post of “‘ civil com- missioner,” while d’annunzio from his retreat on the lake of garda denounced the dissensions of fiume, and refused to return and lead the fiuman movement. negotiations between italy and yugoslavia —finally general giardino became governor, and signor mussolini made a seri- ous attempt to come to terms with the yugoslavs. the river had in the course of generations changed its course, forming a flags | a - | irish free state australia | a: | | ———— m' czechoslovakia — 2. finland palestine bead | | a | : jit | j r danzig jugoslavia estonia kingdom of the serbs, croats and slovenes austria tt poland ' lithuania | | | latvia a egypt iceland fives—flamethrower “ delta,” as it was called, and thus rendering doubtful the bound- ary of fiume towards susak. both italians and yugoslavs claimed the ‘* delta.”” the smaller harbour, too, called in hun- garian times “ port baross”’ after a former governor, but re- christened by the italians ‘‘ porto nazario sauro ” after one of the heroes of the war, was a matter of dispute, but by a letter written by count sforza, then italian minister of foreign af- fairs, a few hours after the signature of the treaty of rapallo in nov. 1920 it was ceded to yugoslavia. even after the refusal of d’annunzio (afterwards created by the fascisto government “‘ principe di monte nevoso’’), bickerings still continued and the two rival races did their best to give one another economic pin-pricks and thereby nearly ruined the trade of the once flourishing port of hungary. thus, the italian railway time-table was so arranged that the trains did not con- nect at the frontier-station of postumia, while the yugoslavs stopped their through railway service to fiume altogether, so that the traveller from fiume into yugoslavia had to drive across the wooden bridge into susak and thence a mile or more to a roadside station on the line to zagreb. grass grew in the dock- yards of the port and there were at one time only two steamers in the harbour. just before the corfu incident, sig. mussolini sent an ultimatum to yugoslavia, and the fleet which bom- barded the greek island is said to have been originally intended for fiume. but milder counsels prevailed, and at last a series of arrangements was concluded at florence between the italian and yugoslav govts. on jan. 27 1924. fiume with the larger harbour was definitely recognised as italian; port baross and “the delta” became yugoslav, and through railway traffic, after several years’ intermission, was renewed. in 1925 the trade of the town improved; and the passage across the bridge to susak was no longer impeded by formalities. but the fiuman frontier towards the north is fantastic, for a mere corridor, through which the road and railway run, connects the town with abbazia, and is commanded by the old roman fortress of castua, high on the hills which dominate the quar- nero. superficial peace reigns at fiume; but italy does not need three ports in the northern adriatic and the opening (in aug. 1925) of the last link in the lika railway connecting spalato with the yugoslav hinterland is a fresh blow to fiume, while the old hungarian-croatian steamship line now rechristened “¢ jadranska plovidba ”’ (‘‘ adriatic steamship co.”’) starts from port baross and boycotts italian zara. the delimitation of the frontier by the italo-yugoslav commission has just been con- cluded. population of the town of fiume (1921), 45,000. bibliography.—m., boulenger, chez gabriele d’ annunzio (1921); legionit di ronchi. documenti delle cingue giornate di frume, 1.e., of occupation by gabriele d’ annunzio (1921); e. susmel, la citta diz passione. fiume negli anni 1914-20 (1921); g. benedetti, fiume, porte baross e il retroterra (1922); la pace di fiume (1926). (w. m1.)