It would be superfluous to dwell on the political, economical, and commercial importance of encourag ing and improving the fisheries, to an insular empire like ours: We shall only observe, that, by their aug menting the qeantity of food, there would necessarily result a reduction in the prices of all the necessaries of life; the condition of the labouring poor, the artificers, and trades-people, would as necessarily be improved; they would not only be the means of rearing and supporting a bold and hardy race of men for the- defence of the sea-coast, but also. of creating a nursery of excellent seamen for the navy in time .of war, and of giving them employment when peace may render their further services tin. necessary. If the fisheries flourished to that ex tent of which they appear to be capable, every sea. port town and little village on the coasts, or on the banks of the creeks and inlets, would become a nursery of seamen. It was thus in Holland, where the national and natural advantages were very infe rior to those of Great Britain ; for it is well observ ed, in the Report'of the Downs Society, that Hol land produces nther timber, iron, nor salt, all of which are essential to fisheries, and all the natural produce of Great Britain; that Holland has no her rings on her own coast, while the coasts of our is. land abound with them and other fish, at different and all seasons of the year; so that there are few, if any, months in which shoals of this fish in particu lar are not found on some part of our shores; and that her population is under 3,000,000, while ours amounts to about 18,000,000, giving to our fisher men six times the consumption of a home market that the Dutch have.
Though the occupation of a fisherman is danger ous, laborious, and precarious, yet it does not pear that the want of sufficient hands has at any time retarded the progress of the fisheries. At this moment 30,000 seamen, receiving pensions from L.7 to L.20 and upwards, according to their wounds, infirmities, and length of service, are located for the most part along the sea-coasts of the united empire, all of whom, not otherwise employed in the coal and coasting trade, would readily add to their little pit tance they receive from a grateful public, by being employed on an element so congenial with their ha bits.
With all the impediments to an extended use of fish in the home market, and notwithstanding the es tablished character which the Dutch fish have al ways borne among foreign nations, ibis consoling to find that the British fisheries are generally in a pro gressive state of improvement, and more particular ly that most important of all their branches, the her ring fishery. Since the act of 48th Geo. III., ap pointing commissioners, separate and distinct from. the Customs and Excise, to superintend the distri bution of bounties, stationing of officers versed in the trade of the herring fishery, persons who had ex. perimentally and practically followed that fishery as a trade, but who are excluded from all interest or participation in the trade, the herring fishery has be come with us as it was with the Dutch,. an object of national concern; the good effects of which are most sensibly felt in every part of the coast, where it has regularly been established, by the- labour it provides, the demand it creates for a variety of ar ticles required by it, and by the money it throws in to circulation. By this act, an annual report by the commissioners, of their proceedings, ending the 5th April, is required to be presented to Parliament each session; containing the details of the fishery of the preceding year, with such observations and suggestions as may have occurred, or been commu nicated to the commissioners, in the interval between the reports. In the report of the year ending 1814, they had stated, " that the superior value of herrings, branded by the officers of the fishery, in point of qua lity, weight, and measure, was becoming every year to be more generally acknowledged, even in markets where, till of late, gutted herrings were not much prized% and this they ascribe to their refusal• of eve ry application for allowing bounty on barrels out of the full size of se gallons, and to their having direct ed prosecutions against ;he proprietors of such her rings, as had been seized for being presented for bounty in undersized barrels ; and that, with other precautions respecting the proper cure of the her rings, the desired effect had been produced, of rai sing the character of British herrings in the foreign market." In their report of 1816, they state that•
they have had their attention turned to different mat ters calculated to improve the cure of herrings, and to raise the character of the British fishery in foreign parts; that a communication, made to' them by a mercantile house of respectability, on the subject of increasing the exportation of herrings to the Conti had been printed, and distributed e curers throughout the kingdom ; that re gulations had been adopted for improving the con struction of barrels intended for bounty ; that the boats of the fishermen had been properly fitted up for the reception of herrings ; that bounty had been refused on all barrels not full of pickle; and that the strictest orders had been given to the officers of the fishery, to apply the official brand in no case, unless both herrings and casks were in every respect such as would do credit to the establishment. In the year 1817, the commissioners point out in their report the great increase that had taken place in the ex portation of British herrings to the Continent of Eu rope, in consequence of the communication made to and the regulations adopted by them,- as contain ed in the preceding report; and, in the year 1818, they observe that they had received a memorial on the subject from Hamburgh, signed by a number of herring merchants of that port, bearing testimony to• the improvement that i had taken place in the quality of British herrings, and pointing out the means of raising their character still higher. This memorial the commissioners likewise caused to be printed, and distributed among the curers, which they accompa nied with such additional observations as they con ceived toe be necessary, and which they state to have produced the most salutary effects. They conclude their statement with the gratifying intelligence, that the character of the British fishery is rising both at home and abroad; for that, while the quantity of herring cured gutted is annually increasing, the quantity cured ungutted is every year diminishing ; that great as the amount of the fishery had been in the course of that year, the demand had fully kept pace with it ; and that, at the end of the season, few herrings remained unsold in the hands of the curers. They further report, that while the exportation to the Continent of Europe had nearly equalled that of the preceding year, and the exportation to the West Indies and Ireland had increased, a new market had opened in the East Indies, to which different ship ments of herrings had been made, by way of expe riment, both from Greenock and London : that, from the former of these places, upwards of 1300 firkins were exported to Calcutta, all of which they understood were purchased by Europeans there at 20s. to 25s. per firkin ; and that it was the intention of the exporter, in consequence of this encourage. ment, to ship a larger quantity next season ; so that the commissioners trust, that India will soon become a permanent and valuable market for the consumption of British herrings. The report thus concludes," It is impossible to state, within the compass of this re port, the advantages resulting to the community from the prosperity of the herring fishery ; but the com missioners think it their duty briefly to mention that the effects thereof are felt in almost every part of the kingdom. The fishermen have, in many cases, been enabled, by the produce of their industry, to replace the small boats formerly used, by new boats of much larger dimensions, and to provide them selves with fishing materials of superior value. The number of boats and of fishermen has been greatly increased ; while, by the general introduction of the practice of gutting, a valuable source of employtnent has been opened to thousands of poor people, who now annually resort to the coast during the conti nuance of the fishing season, and there earn a de cent livelihood in the operations of gutting and pack ing. New dwelling-houses and buildings, on a su perior construction, for the curing and storing of the herrings, are erecting at almost every station along the coast; while the demand for home wood for the manufacture of barrels, affords a source of profit and employment to numbers of people in the most inland parts of the country." The progress of the herring-fishery will best be seen by a summary view of the quantities caught, cured for bounty, and exported in the last three or four years.