Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-25
EUROPEtS ENDANGERED
 FISH SUPPLY. Serious Food Shortage Caused By Wars Embargo of Peaceful Effort in North Sea.
Especial to The Bulletin. )

Especial to The Bulletln.)
 Washington, D. C., March 24-One
 of the most important and hitherto
 undiscussed clements of the famine
 which has become a bitterly significant
 phase of the war, and which, accord
 ing to innumerable reports, is growing steadily in various countries of Europe,
 is brought clearly to the attention of Americans by William Joseph Showal-
 ter in communication to the Nation al Geographic society concerning the
 war and the North Sea fisheries. Dis cussing Europe's endangered fish SUD- ply, this writer says:
 With it's war zones and counter war zones, its mined areas, it's hostile fleets. and it's heavily defended shores, the North Sea, in a few months, has been transformed from one of the richest food producing areas in Chris | tendon into region upon whose mas tery may depend the starvation of one or the other of two of the mightiest
 nations of the earth. In times of peace no other like area in all the seas ever has given to humanity such rich sup plies of food as this narrow strait sep arating Albion from the continent of Europe. During the year previous to the present war. million and @ quar- ter tons of fish were taken here, enough to fill a procession of fish trucks reaching across the United States from New York to San Fran cisco via New Orleans.
 Just how serious this food shortage caused by wars embargo of peaceful effort in the North Sea is, and may l become, we in America, for whom fish diet, can comprehend only with diff culty.
 1 Europe has depended very much on 1 these fisheries for fish supplies. More
 than half of all the fish produced in all l the waters of Europe are caught with l &I,~1 $r1 Z the North Sea fishing grounds. How much they are depended upon is shown | by the fact that Great Britain annual
 ly absorbs 100000 pounds of North ] Sea fish; that means 22 pounds per capita And while this is small in proportion to her per capita meat con- | sumption of 119 pounds. yet it is that margin which represents the difference
 between a bounteous plenty and posi- l tive hunger unless other foods can be ] secured to take it's place.
 'Germany's dependence upon North | Sea fish production is much the same as Great Britain's, while the depend ence of the north countries, of France, Austria-Hungary and Russia is even greater, according to this writer, who explains that investigation reveals the | fact that as meat becomes less and | less important in a nations dietary, l fish becomes more and more import ant. Great Britain and Germany are shown to be the great meat consum- l CTS of Europe, with respective per cap ita conSumpt1ons of 119 and 113 pounds. France has a per capita, con sumption of 30 pounds. Belgium 70, | Austria-Hungary GA, and Russia 50. Moreover, a closed North Sea. has | thrown out of work 8 hundred thous- and Englishmen who manned the steam traw1, the drifter and the sail 1 ing boat, together with tens of thous- ands of German. Dutch. Danish. Scan | dinavian, Belgian and French fisher folk. While all supplies of fresh fish 1 are dw1ndAng to negligible amounts and while little provision is being made for future supplies of dried and salt fish, it is to be presumed, the writer says, that the warning nations had con- siderable quantities of preserved fish
 on hand at the outbreak of the war. The vast proportion of fish consumed in Europe is salt fish, and it forms the mainstay of the lRrders of the poor. But for the salt herring. there are thousands of families in England and on the continent who would very rarely know the taste of flesh
 "Grimsby fs the fishing capital of the world, with an annual output of perhaps 3O0.e00 tons of fish. More than 500 steam trawlerS operate from l this port fin time of peaca and a. spec trade, including an outer basin of 12 acres and an Inner basin of IS acres, and two dry docks. And Billingsgate ! is the worlds greatest middlernan's
 fish market, handling the mora than one million and a. half pounds of fish that is consumed every day by the city of London in normal times America need fear no North Sea dilemma in connection with its own high seas fishing banks, because thanks to the great Amerfcan-origi- mated system of fish culture. we are able to go on drawing a larger part of
 our fish diet from our inland streams and lakes"