_
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.
2Æ1
The returns from the various centres all over the country
.
have for the most part steadily increased since 18841, and
though it is true that large quantities are captured on the
Great Fisher Bank, Iceland, and other regions at a distance
from British waters proper, yet this is due to the more remune'
_
rative nature of the work, and not to the dearth of shes in
the seas at home.
Such increase has not been fostered by the
closure, but,—in the case of both liner and trawler, is due to
‘
enterprise which was independent.
_
Nature has been able by her unaided resources to ward off
extinction in a species so eagerly desired by man as the red or
precious coral for one of the greatest incentives of the race, viz.
pecuniary gain, and yet so circumscribed in distribution, and
so
slenderly supplied with means of dispersion in comparison
_
with many marine animals.
Moreover, all this has occurred
in a sea, which from its limited boundaries is specially excluded
from the consideration of the question treated of in this Work,
and which has been swept byhundreds of boats’ crews annually
1
by day and by night. If the continuance of the red coral,
Î
therefore, has been assured, even if it be granted (for authorities
déem the diminished price rather than scarcity of coral at the
_
-
root of the present depression) that its numbers have been
-
lessened, what difculty is there_in regard to the permanent
_abundance of the chief food—sheS of the open
seaboard of our
'
_ï -country,set as it is in the midst of an almost boundless ocean,
'
;
withall the marvellous powers
of increase, a thousand—fold ‘
=
greater than the coral, so characteristic of them on the One
1 The long-continued abundance of the
of Britain may be estimated
by the following note on a year’s supply to Biingsgate about 1850 (Chambers’
.
'
'Misceüany, “The Commerce of the Thames ”):—The Morning Chronicle “8 or
4 years ago” gave a list of the shes brought in & yeart0 Blingsgate.
‘
Live cod 400,000; barrelled cod 750,000; salt cod. 1_,BO0,000;
salmon 200,000;
_
fresh haddooks 2,500,000; smoked haddooks 19,500,000; soies 97,000,000;
mackere1 23,000,000; fresh and. red herrîngs
and
b10aters
ï
_
eels_10,000,000; whitings 20,000,000; plaice 36,000,000; brls and mu11ets
.'
turbot 800,000; oysters 500,000,000; lobsters and crabs
2,0_O0,000;
…
shrimps and prawns 500,000,000. Besides, even now, so ‘1a1‘ge an amount %
37 tons may be destroyed as unt for food in a month.
M. ia.
,
'
16
-
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.
2Æ1
The returns from the various centres all over the country
.
have for the most part steadily increased since 18841, and
though it is true that large quantities are captured on the
Great Fisher Bank, Iceland, and other regions at a distance
from British waters proper, yet this is due to the more remune'
_
rative nature of the work, and not to the dearth of shes in
the seas at home.
Such increase has not been fostered by the
closure, but,—in the case of both liner and trawler, is due to
‘
enterprise which was independent.
_
Nature has been able by her unaided resources to ward off
extinction in a species so eagerly desired by man as the red or
precious coral for one of the greatest incentives of the race, viz.
pecuniary gain, and yet so circumscribed in distribution, and
so
slenderly supplied with means of dispersion in comparison
_
with many marine animals.
Moreover, all this has occurred
in a sea, which from its limited boundaries is specially excluded
from the consideration of the question treated of in this Work,
and which has been swept byhundreds of boats’ crews annually
1
by day and by night. If the continuance of the red coral,
Î
therefore, has been assured, even if it be granted (for authorities
déem the diminished price rather than scarcity of coral at the
_
-
root of the present depression) that its numbers have been
-
lessened, what difculty is there_in regard to the permanent
_abundance of the chief food—sheS of the open
seaboard of our
'
_ï -country,set as it is in the midst of an almost boundless ocean,
'
;
withall the marvellous powers
of increase, a thousand—fold ‘
=
greater than the coral, so characteristic of them on the One
1 The long-continued abundance of the
of Britain may be estimated
by the following note on a year’s supply to Biingsgate about 1850 (Chambers’
.
'
'Misceüany, “The Commerce of the Thames ”):—The Morning Chronicle “8 or
4 years ago” gave a list of the shes brought in & yeart0 Blingsgate.
‘
Live cod 400,000; barrelled cod 750,000; salt cod. 1_,BO0,000;
salmon 200,000;
_
fresh haddooks 2,500,000; smoked haddooks 19,500,000; soies 97,000,000;
mackere1 23,000,000; fresh and. red herrîngs
and
b10aters
ï
_
eels_10,000,000; whitings 20,000,000; plaice 36,000,000; brls and mu11ets
.'
turbot 800,000; oysters 500,000,000; lobsters and crabs
2,0_O0,000;
…
shrimps and prawns 500,000,000. Besides, even now, so ‘1a1‘ge an amount %
37 tons may be destroyed as unt for food in a month.
M. ia.
,
'
16
-