Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-03-30
War and the Fish Supply
: national osographio nEarazins.

National Geographic Magazine.
VIZ It'll IT'S war zones and counter zones, its
w mined areas, It's hostile fleets and It's heavily
defended shores the North sea, in few
months has been transformed from Of the richest
food-producing in Christendom into a region
upon whose mastery may depend the starvation Of
the other Of two OF the mightiest nations OF
the earth In times OF peace other like in all
the ever has given TO humanity such rich sup
plies OF food as this narrow strait separating Albion
from the continent OF Europe More than any other
known region OF the oceans the food fishes Of the
marine world 10 love TO congregate there. and
to feel that II IL home 20 them IN spite OF agelong
attack them by the greatest Of ell creatures Of
prey-man.
step by step every idea OF art and science
has been brought to the aid Of the fisher folk Of the
North and by the stepby-step process, the
annual drain on its resources has climbed higher and
higher unt finally during the previous to the
present war, IL amounted 90 million and quarter
tons OF fish Counting two tons TO the truck load.
and allowing thirty feet the truck this would make
procession of fish trucks reaching the United
States from New York TO San Francisco, Via New
Orleans Yet almost as rapidly as the demands Of the
world have risen, the supply has increased. and, eX
cept for too heavy concentration Of fishing forces
some individual bank and then there Is
evidence Of any serious depletion Of the stock
The lesson of the present war TO the inhabitants
OF Neptunes world is that It 10 III wind that blows
nobody good But yesterday thousands OF steam
trawers pursued their way up and down the fishing
untold millions of fish Other Thousands OF
drifters dropped down the fishing banks and
view with the trawlers in the magnitude of their
catch Other thousands and even tens of thousands,
OF boats equipped with a myriad OF baited hooks,
aided In collecting the tremendous tax levied by the
human appetite upon the sea-
Today a hundred thousand Englishmen who
manned the steam trawl. the drtfter and the sailing
boat; of thousands of Germans who We'd with
them in their work Belgans. the French. the Dutch,
the Danes. and the scandinavians. who also helped
OF jobs, Fishing boats sweep the for
mines instead OF SEEMING It for fish.
We in America where fish forms such a minor
part OF our daily diet, and where so many fish that
eat grown in rivers and bays. under
great Amercan-orignated system Of fish culture, find
It hard to realize how serious in their proportions
and how far-reachng in their consequences are the
results OF practical closing down the fisheries Of
the North
Europe has depended very much on these fisheries
for fish supplies. More than half of all the fish
produced all the fishing grounds operated by
Europeans caught within the limited territory
that constitutes the North fishing grounds How
much they depended upon is shown by the fact
that Great Britain annually absorbs 10000 tons of
North sea fish; that means twenty-five pounds per
capita. And while this is small In proportion to its
per capita consumption of 11s pounds yet it is
that margin which represents the difference between
bounteous plenty and positive hunger unless other
foods be secured 10 take its place. The same
condition applies to Germany,
The vast proportion of the fish consumed in
Europe Is salt fish The fresh fish go the tables
Of the rch while the herring other salted vare-
ties are consumed principally by te masses. The
suit is that when the pinch in the fish supply began
20 It visited the homes of the weil-to-do first
AN OF the countries at probably enough salt
fish In their warehouses 10 tide over considerable
period but IL the keeps up this dis
Not only do the nations at feel the pinch
OF the fish shortage by the war neutral
nations we'll Holland feels Il sorely from pro
duction standpoint. do also Sweden, Norway and
Denmark. On the other hand. it hits Switzerland
more from consumption standpoint That country
normally buys nearly million dollars worth fish
from the countries that border the North see.
Many regions around the North sea live almost en-
trely by their fishing industry. The orkneys
Shetland islands have almost other activities.
Ierwck the principal town of the islands in winter
has population Of 1900. In summer this grows to
the little Scotch of Buckle possessed three steam
fishing boats In 1910 II possessed $50 In 1914 The
port Of Fraserburg annually handles 10000 tons OF
fish, and Aberdeen has increased its fishing business
sixty fold in fourteen years.
In Great Britain the fishing industry centralized
In few large ports I'm France it is scattered among
great many small ports. Grimsby is the fishing
capital of the world with annual output of per-
haps 10000 OF fish. The territory which const-
tutes the North fishing stringiy lime
tied in compared Importance total area
is less than 10000 miles, only little larger
than the state of New Mexico The Dogger bank is
the center OF Il al-the Charng Cross of the sea so
10 speak IL has been estimated that there are some
1900 species Of fish in the world. and some of the
food fishes found in the North sea are among the
most prolific OF them all