FISHERIES (ante). To the general view in the article ante we acid some facts con cerning American fisheries, their extent and product. The French first, learned the value of the Newfoundland fisheries about the beginning of the 16th c., a value that the lapse of 400 years has in no degree diminished. As early as 1517, there were 50 vessels employed of the banks, and 60 years later, 150 vessels were in the business. Near the close of the 1Gth c., there began a conflict between France and England for the control of the business, which continued for more than 100 years. Treaties were made and boundaries defined at various times, and the two nations shared about equally in the advantages. The revolution of 1789 and Napoleon's wars greatly diminished the French interest in the fisheries, but after the peace of 1815 they prospered, and in recent years as many as 800 vessels and 12,000 men have been employed by the French alone. y The Spaniards also worked the American fisheries for a long period in the 16th and 17th cen turies, but the decline of their naval power and the sale or loss of their American pos sessions withdrew them from the field. English fisheries beyond their own waters began nearly a century before the discovery by Columbus. One of the first fruits of that dis covery, as continued by Sebastian Cabot, was to interest Englishmen in the Newfound land seas, because of their wealth in fish. Temporary settlements were made on the island as early as 1522; acts were passed in 1548, and later, to encourage the fishery, and at the commencement of the 17th c., there were 200 or more English vessels in the business every year. At the same time Gosnold found the codfish off the New England coast, and gave its name to Cape Cod. Thenceforward the New England coast fisheries grew into prominence. Of course at this time the " catch" of these great fleets of fishing vessels was useful only in Europe. And it is stated as a remarkable fact that the demand for fish was seriously diminished by the rapid spread of the Protestant reformation. All this time the English government jealously guarded the fisheries, which reached a high stage of prosperity about the end of the 18th century. In 1314, the value of the product was $12,000,000. A few years later the business passed under the control of the colonial authorities, and the distinctive English fishery as a business was ended.
American fisheries began with the settlement of the country, and New England was always foremost in the business. In 16,24, the Plymouth colonists sent a cargo of fish to England, followed the next year by two ships laden with fish and furs. About 1670, the Cape Cod fisheries were leased as though they had been public property, and the rents went to tile founding of a free school. In 1639, the colonial legislature passed an act to encourage the fishing business, granting to the property and the persons engaged therein certain immunities. Before 1700, exports of fish were made to Italy, Portugal, and Spain of the annual value of $400,000. About 1740, Massachusetts had 400 vessels engaged in fishing. One of the first measures of England to bring New England into obedience in the early stages of the revolution was to deprive the colonies of the right to work the Newfoundland fishery. During the seven years of the war, fishing was neglected for the more profitable business dprivateering. Independence having been achieved, one of the articles in the treaty of peace of 1783 provided " that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the grand bank and all the other banks of Newfoundland; also in the gulf of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the inhabitants of both countriect used at any time to fish; and also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such parts of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use, and also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all other of his Britannic majesty's dominions in America." One of the first ungenerous acts on the part of England, after this specific agreement, was an order in council prohibiting the importa tion into the British West Indies of fish caught with American hooks. But the United States government answered by imposing duties on foreign-caught fish, and offering bounties for home production. It is needless to go over the many changes, disputes, and arrangements that occurred in the century gone by with regard to the rights and duties of the United States and the British colonies in this matter. They culminated in 1377, in the results arrived at by the "fisheries commission" under the treaty of Washington, at Halifax. There had been no serious trouble about rights and privileges under the original treaty of peace of 1783, until 1814, when in negotiating the treaty of Ghent the English commissioners took the position that the war (of 1812) had destroyed the treaty of 1788. The American representatives directly opposed this, and
insisted that the rights of fishing guaranteed in the original treaty were irrevocable and inalienable. The convention left the question open, and it was not alluded to in the Ghent treaty. The controversy was revived in 1815, and in 1818 an attempt was made to settle it by a convention which granted to citizens of the United States' the right to fish in the deep sea, and to dry and cure on British coasts, as by the of 1783, while they renounced all claim to fish within three marine miles of the British coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors; still retaining, however, the right to enter such coasts, bays, etc., for shelter, repairing damages, and purchasing wood. This agreement did not allay the dispute, and the fishery question was embittered by the Canso and headland questions, involving, practically, the right of Americans to fish in the gulf of St. Law rence, the bay of Fundy, and the bay of Chaleurs. This dispute, so far as it relates to the bay of Fundy, was submitted to arbitration in connection with the seizure of the Washington, and was decided in favor of the United States. Angry contentions con tinued from 1824 to 1854, when the rival claims of New England and the colonists were amicably adjusted by the reciprocity treaty. In 1866, that treaty was abrogated, and the American and Canadian interests were again placed in conflict. Canada, at the instance of the imperial government, adopted a license system, but soon tired of the trouble and expense it entailed. Matters remained in that condition until the treatyof Washington, in 1871, when an attempt was made to settle the dispute definitely. By that instrument the fisheries of both countries were thrown open reciprocally; but, inasmuch as it was asserted by England that the privileges she accorded were of greater value than those given in return, the subject was referred to a commissioner from the United States and one from Great Britain, and a third to be nominated by the emperor of Austria. After a delay of nearly six years the commission was organized, the three arbitrators being Mr. Do Forse, sir A. T. Galt, and ex-judge Kellogg of Massachusetts. Judge Foster, assisted by R. IT. Dana, jr., and others, had charge of the American case. The inter ests of Canada were confided mainly to Mr. Doutre, an eminent lawyor of Montreal. The British case was divided into two parts—one concerning Canada, the other New foundland. It held, in effect, that the privilege of fishing in American waters is worth less, and claimed all award of $12,000,000 for the use by Americans of the Canadian inshore fisheries for 12 years—the period, of treaty—and $2,280,000 fog the use of the Newfoundland fisheries. The American case denied substantially these claims. The commissioners awarded Great Britain the sum of $5,500,000, to be paid within a year.
The whale fishery, once an important business for New. England, has fallen almost into discontinuance through the scarcity of whales, their oil having been replaced through the discovery and use of the vegetable and mineral oils. In 1852, there were 602 Ameri can vessels, total tonnage 208,399, engaged in whaling; at present less than 100 vessels are so employed. The mackerel fishery is important, and is followed along the coast from Chesapeake bay to Newfoundland. Menhaden or mossbunkers are caught in enormous quantities on the coasts of Long Island for the oil to he obtainettfrom them, In the same region millions of this prolific fish are taken to manure land, Herring are found all along the coast; and in the lakes there is a similar fish known as the siscoe. Halibut are caught chiefly in the north Atlantic. The value of river fisheries has of late years greatly increased under the influence of laws regulating the times for taking, and extensive operations in stocking barren or poorly furnished streams. See PISCICULTURE. Shad are always abundant in proper season in the rivers of the middle and eastern states, growing better as they come north. The great lakes furnish white fish, trout, and lake-herring. The rivers of Mane and regions further n. abound in salmon. Along the coast the city markets are supplied with black fish, ri eak-fish, cod, salmon, mackerel, blue fish, eels, porgies, and many other varieties in great abun • dance. The oyster fisheries all along the Atlantic coast from New England to North Carolina are important in extent and value. The seal fisheries of Alaska are also among the most important of our national resources.