HARVEST IN THE NORTH SEA.

Colonist, Volume LIV, Issue 13479, 26 July 1912, Page 6

HARVEST IN THE NORTH SEA.

From 60 to 70 trawlers arrive at Grimsby every night, and in the early morning the pontoon presents a unique sight. Tho catches are landed and sorted out into the different kinds, cod, haddock, sole, plaice, and so forth. There ar-c, too, different sorts or grades of the same species. Thus there are Aberdeen, Faroe-, and Iceland plaice, which tho experts can tell at a glance. Then there are what are technically known as ;'livo" and dead fish —the live fish having been brought home alive in the hold of the trawler, but to the mero layman all are equally dead. All the fish aro sold by auction, and there may be as many as 60 or 80 sales proceeding at the same time.

Large as the supply is in these days of steam trawlers and improved appliances —and it is estimated that British fishing vessels draw annually from the North Sea alone 800,000 tons of fish of the wholesale- value of £6,500,000—it does no more tlian keep pace with the great and growing demand. Railway facilities enable tho inland towns to be furnished with fish regularly and promptly, and agents of the London, Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, and other dealers buy largely at tho Grimsby sales, dispatching their purchases with all speed.

With the advent of the steam trawler a great impetus was given to the trade in cured fish, and now there are scores of acres of land round about Grimsby given up to this industry. Tho fish are split, the big bones aro taken out, and they are dried in the sun. It is an interesting fact that a large part of the trado in dried fish is export trade, the produce being sent largely to Germany, Riissia, and other Continental countries. Altogether, this garnering of the perennial harvest of the sea is a great and growing , industry, particularly in and around these islands.