Norwich bulletin., 1916-10-13
NEW AGREEMENT CELEBRATED
 BY THE DUTCH FISHERMEN
Great Britain No Longer Interferes
 With Their Herring Fishing.

Scheveningen, Netherlands, Oct. 10. Flags are flying from f1shermen's
 homes all along the Dutch coast in celebration of the agreement arrived at with Great Britain on the herring fishery question.
 When England's blockading warships some months ago began to take the squat Dutch SmackS and luggarS into British ports. on the ground that nine ty per cent. of their catches was pre- sumably destined for Germany, pop ular resentment in Holland rose to high pitch. Fishing in the North Sea for time practically came to a stand
 still.
 leased by the British authorities, and The relief felt at the solution of the difficulty is great. The hundred or so detained craft have already been re- the entire Dutch fishing fleet of over
 thousand vessels is to be entirely in the North Sea-always with the exception of the forbidden zone." Britains conditions, stipulated with the Dutch fishing interests-the Meth erlands government had nothing to do with the negotiations-are that from September l until the end of the war the catches shall be placed on the open market as heretofore, but that not more than 20 per cent thereof shall be sold to Germany. Home consumption Twill take another 20 per cent. while England reserves the option to pur-
 chase a further 20 per cent. at prices
 ruling for Dutch buyers. The remain i ing 40 per cent. may be disposed Of
 to any and all countries not at war | with Great Britain, and the British
 authorities bind themselves to pay substantial subsidy of 30 shillings per l barrel of 115 kilograms thus sold, to
 compensate for the higher prices that
 might have been obtained from Ger
 many, reserving the right to do this
 in Treasury notes of years term. l Further, the owners whose ships were | taken in are compensated for any | damage incurred to nets and boats during such operation, while pernlis-
 sion is again given to draw from Eng | land all the nets and other fslsng gear
 required.
 one of the indirect results of this
 settlement is that the Dutch hope to
 recapture the American market for Dutch salted herring-which had been
 lost to them owing to the fancy prices
 which German bidding mad created
 Before the war the United States was
 next to Germany, the best customer i taking 14,157 tons of herring in 1913 In 1915, American herring imports from Holland had dropped to 1,593 1 tons, and during the first seven months of 1916, only eight tons of Dutch herring found their way across l the Atlantic.
 German buying competition will now 1 be excluded so far as 80 per cent. of the catches is concerned, and it is hoped that the British subsidy, which
 is something like the entire value of | the product in normal times, will en-
 able dealers to find a big overseas
 market at moderate prices despite the 1 high freight rates. It should how
 ever be added that outward freights
 have not risen in anything like the same proportion as those to Europe | In fact, almost half of the ships sail ing from Dutch ports to transatlantic | destinations are in ballast.
 | Leading fishery interests in this country estimate that from now on un- | til the end of the herring fishing sea
 son, some 10000 tons of salted her
 ring will be shipped to America under
 this arrangement. This is figured or
 a basis of 30 to 35 per cent of an es- | timated total catch of half a million l barrels.
 | As regards the fresh sea fish branch of the fisheries, a separate agreement has been concluded, by which 30 pel
 for home consumption, and of the re- maining 70 per cent. half will go tC
 Britain and half to Germany. The 1 British dealers will buy in the oper
 market in competition with the Ger man, but certain maximum prices have been fixed in the case of this
 fresh fish, any margin above whicF will be made good to them by tht fishing craft owners.
 Judging from the fact that 145, ,00t tons of salted herring and fresh ses fish was exported to Germany las year, by the foregoing ingenious com promise Britain will manage to in. tercept over 100 900 tons of fish fooc a year that previously went to hell
 provisioning the besieged Centra Powers.