The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-15

scarcely be worth considering. But the
immature fish are only a by product, so
to speak. The reason why they are caught
is that wherever they are found, and the
fishermen know to an inch where to look
for them, there are also to be found a few
mature and highly valuable soles.
Now, of all the good things that are to
be desired in life. the sole, from the point
of view of Grimsby. is the most desirable
OF all the fish that swim he Is the most
marketable. No imaginable supply can
depreciate his market value There never
was in history glut of soles on the mar
ket. For soles the English appetite Is in
satiable. Turbot. halibut. plsice, haddock,
herring-especially herring-depend for
their profitable catchings on the market
conditions current at the time they are
landed. But not the sole. He invariably
fetches more than he is worth largely be-
cause of his accommodating disposition ia
growing to a size that is convenient eth
Ell for family or hotel and restaurant
consumption. The fisherman knows that
II he can only get back to Grimsby with
few boxes of soles he can be sure Of
hGving made a profitable voyage.
Grimsby has its grudge. too, against
science. There were years ago commits
sions and inquiries with regard to the
everlasting and immature fish question,
and with regard to the necessity or adj
vantage of imposing close time or other
preservative regulation upon the fishing
industry But science took a hand, and
proved conclusively-from books, of
course-that there was no such thing as
everlasting, and that the reproductive
powers Of fish were marvellous: that IL it
were not for benehcent laws of nature
there would not be room left In the SCI
for the water.
The Good Old Days and Prices.
Fifteen or twenty years ago sailing
smack used to be able to go over to the
Dutch coast and come back with sixty
TO seventy boxes of soles, each box
weighing about 100 pounds Nowadays a
steam trawler has had what is regarded
as big voyage II 1t comes back with
eight or ten boxes from the same ground.
Thirty years ago a smack could go out
from Grimsby and get a cargo of fish In
a single night on the trawling grounds
within sight of Sprun Head; nowadays
that ground Is as clear of fish as IL 1t
had been swept with a bosom. Sixteen
years ago the Grimsby Ice Company's
fleet of hundred sailing smacks used
frequently to capture 1900 boxes of fish,
nowadays, with the same catching power
Uo or 100 boxes would be an achievement.
Seventeen years ago there were in Grims-
by over 1000 sail of fishing boats, all max
ing catches which at present prices would
yield splendid profits. They have all dis
appeared, unable to exist on their dimin-
ished catches, notwithstanding that prices
have advanced more than 100 per cent In
place of them there are 600 steam trawi-
ers. each one equal in respect to trawI
energy to at least four sailing smacks.
And although owing to steam and Ice,
these steam trawlers go so far afield, to
the newer grounds about Iceland their
catch is not so large as that OF the old
time smacks, for the simple reason that
in the North sea the fish are not there
to be caught.
There must, Alderman Mudd says, be a
close time for fish in the breeding season
and protection for the breeding grounds
II the North Sea fish are not to be wholly
exterminated
At present Grimsby manages to get
along on the not inconsiderable profits of
handling and marketing the fish after the
fishermen have done with them. What
lack there Is of North Sea fish IL makes
up for with Iceland fish, some OF which
has been kept so long on ice as to taste
more Of the ice than the fish And, of
course, the public have to make UP the
difference by paying higher prices. Plaice
in the old abundant days used to sell at
shillings to shillings a box; now they
are thought cheap at 30 shillings, and have
been known to fetch as much as "a. Soles
used to average pence a pound; now
they run from / shilling 8 pence to / shill-
ing pence. Kit haddocks, which used
to sell at from shillings to shillings,
now command Is shillings. So by selling
Ice deteriorated fish at these huge prices
the pontoon manages to keep a1oat. But
thoughtful men like the Mayor. who look
to the future, wonder where the fish are
coming from when the arctic waters are
In their turn fished out