FISHERIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Reference has been made to some fisheries of the British empire. If a chart of the world be studied with special refer ence to the sea areas within the depth of zoo fathoms—that being roughly the limit of depth of the fishing grounds—it will be seen that most of the principal fishing grounds are fairly easily accessible from different parts of the British empire. In Canada and Newfoundland there are already well-established fishing in dustries exploiting the fisheries of the north-western Atlantic, and an experimental station has recently been erected at Halifax under the control of the Marine Biological board for the study of the preservation of fish by brine freezing, with a view to the develop ment of an export trade to Europe. Canada also, and particularly British Columbia, exploits the fisheries of the north Pacific, the most important fisheries being those for salmon (which accounts for something more than three-quarters of the annual value of the fisheries of British Columbia), halibut and herring.
Comparatively little attention has until recently been bestowed upon the fisheries of Australia, and the fishing grounds have only been partially explored. The lack of interest in fisheries may be accounted for partly by difficulties of transport and partly by the relative cheapness of meat. There are, beyond doubt, large areas of trawlable water round the coasts, and there is every reason to believe that they are prolific of fish. In recent years a trawling industry has grown up in New South Wales, and the Australian Development Commission is now seriously studying the question of the development of Australian fisheries.
The fisheries of New Zealand are already well developed and steadily increase in importance. Between 4o and 5o steam trawl ers are employed and about 1,300 vessels of smaller types. Oysters of high quality are produced, particularly in Foveaux strait, and the endeavour is being made to acclimatize turbot and other food fishes from the north Atlantic.
It is probable that the most important development in the near future in British empire fisheries will take place in South Africa, where surveys already carried out and at present in progress have revealed rich and extensive fishing grounds, some within a few hours steaming of Cape Town, others at no great distance from Durban. A fishing harbours committee was appointed in Oct. 1925, by the Union Government to investigate and report on the improvement of the harbours along the coast and of the assistance which could be given to encourage fishing industries. A small trawling industry has already been developed, with Cape Town, and though South Africa imports considerable quantities of cured, dried and preserved fish, its export trade in fish amounts already to some £300,000 worth a year and is growing steadily. The chief item of export is preserved crawfish, valued at over £200,000 a year, the principal market for which is in France. Fresh and frozen fish are exported chiefly to Australia. There is also a considerable market for fresh fish in South Africa, particu larly in the towns of Rand.
The fisheries of the tropical regions of the empire stand on a different footing to those hitherto mentioned. It is probable that in the warmer seas there is a greater number of species of fish, but that there are no such great concentrations of any one species as are found in the colder regions ; moreover, the areas within the zoo fathom line are on the whole less extensive in the tropics than in the northern seas, but fishing is carried on on practically all the shores of the tropical colonies and of India. On the west coast of Madras, where the fisheries are more systematically or ganised than in other parts of the province and statistics are collected, some 54,000 tons of fish are landed annually, valued at between £400,000 and £500,000. Statistics are not available for the fisheries of the east coast of the province. On the coast of Bombay fishing by old-fashioned methods is carried on and at tempts have recently been made to develop trawling, hitherto with little success. The fisheries of Bengal supply to Calcutta alone about 16,00o tons of fish yearly. In Ceylon and in Malaya experi mental work is being conducted by the Governments with a view to the development on more modern lines of age-old fishing industries.
Generally speaking, it may be said that throughout the empire there has developed in the present century a disposition to pay greater attention than heretofore to the food resources of the sea, and that this disposition has been translated into active energy.