The North Atlantic Fisheries, 1100-1976 - University of Hull

nineteenth century. 237 More importantly, from 1868, the government
commenced publishing comprehensive annual data relating to the
number, tonnage and class of fishing vessel registered at each UK port,
adding details as to the means of propulsion, sail or steam, from 1888.
Information relating to the quantities of fish transported by rail were
published annually from 1878, while the type of fish taken, the grounds
fished, and the value of the catch were all systematically recorded and
added to the statistical data published by Parliament after 1902. Of
course, the agencies responsible for the collection and presentation of
information have changed, but the quality and quantity of the data
available for the fisheries has remained constant to the present day.
These statistical series, supported by a variety of more qualitative source
materials, provide ample evidence for a thorough analysis of the
development of the fishing industries of the British Isles since the early
nineteenth century. 238
As we have noted, the ceiling on demand for fish remained low in the
early nineteenth century, but the railways, in providing a relatively fast
and cheap means of conveyance, transformed the market for fish. Such
change was gradual rather than revolutionary in tempo. Indeed, it was
not until the early 1840s that the railways began to have a significant
impact on the fish trade, and not until the late 1850s, almost three
decades after the coming of the steam railway, that anything resembling
a national mass market for fresh fish was truly evident. A number of
factors explain this pattern. Not least of these was the simple fact that the
railway network itself was limited in scale until the mid 1840s. A second
reason lay in the manner in which the railway network developed, its ad
hoc, localised character obliging those concerned with long distance,
through traffic to transfer periodically their goods from one carrier to
another. Moreover, despite providing a novel means of transport, railway
promoters were initially intent on cultivating existing trades rather than
in creating new lines of business. Accordingly, few, if any, of the railway
pioneers afforded the expansion of the fish trade any priority in their
construction plans, while the fact that fresh fish, because of high road
transport costs, had always been a luxury item continued to influence
railway pricing policies into the 1840s. In essence, therefore, railway
carriers merely adopted the rates of the road hauliers and fish remained
237 Northway, ‘Devon Fishing Industry’ (1994), 127.
238 Rule, ‘British Fisherman’.
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