On the Artificial Culture of Lobsters (Classic Reprint)

British waters, to meet the public demand, may be gained from the statistics contained in the Government Report upon the Crab and Lobster Fisheries, published in the year 1877. Herein it is shown that, upon an average, no less a number than one million of lobsters are imported annually into the United Kingdom, in the living state, from Norway alone, which is the chief source of our supply, this million, at the date quoted, representing a money value of about 22,500. Statistics are likewise here given of the numbers of lobsters annually derived from different portions of the British coast line, the keynote and burden of the whole report being, however, the unwelcome, but only too familiar intelligence, that lobsters are continually becoming scarcer and dearer, and that the fishermen have, year by year, to go further afield, dividing the large profits, once accruing to the few, among the many, to meet the requirements of the market. The lobster, not many years since within easy reach of all members of the community, is in fact rapidly following the lead of the native oyster, and threatens soon to be a luxury at the disposal only of the wealthy. A quotation from the report already referred to will suffice to establish this assertion. Here is the testimony we find on many a page. England and Wales :C rabs and lobsters are decreasing; they are overfished. The grounds inshore have been fished out, and the men have to go to deeper water. Scotland :A very large majority of the witnesses, with special means of arriving at a just conclusion on the subject, are satisfied that the crab and lobster fisheries of Scotland are in a state of gradual decay. Of Norway, our richest source of supply, aM
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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