DWINDLING SEA FISHERMEN

Evening Star, Issue 22975, 4 June 1938, Page 3

DWINDLING SEA FISHERMEN

Statements made at the Edinburgh meeting of the Convention _of Royal Burghs concerning the herring industry will doubtless receive the attention they deserve from the Government, though the allegation that “ the Government has gone the whole, hog for the destruction of the industry ” is not one calculated to enlist sympathetic consideration. Whether the industry could he restored to a flourishing condition by the simple expedient of arranging a market in Russia is a matter on which _ others may reasonably be less optimistic than the Buckie spokesman. Another matter, on which the fishermen can speak with special knowledge, claims vfery serious consideration; that is, the rapid diminution in the number of fishermen all around the coast. Five years ago Buckie had over 2,400 fishermen; _at the close of the last Yarmouth fishing the number was 1,800, and in the last four months the total fell to 1,200, of whom three-fourths are “on the dole.” At this rate the sea ifishermen will quickly become extinct. The prospect is a black one for the fishermen; it is perhaps equally disastrous for the country as a whole; for in the event of another war whence can he drawn those reserves of boats and seamen essential to the safety of home waters? Delay in checking the .'decay of the herring industry may be a national danger.— 1 Weekly Scotsman.’