; whereas on the south coast it was
736,599 cwt. in 1899, and on the west 1,117,164 cwt. in 1898.
Considered as a whole, the individual fish, by far the most important
in the English fisheries, is the herring, for which Yarmouth and
Lowestoft are the chief ports. The next in order are haddock, cod and
plaice, and the east coast fisheries return the greatest bulk of these
also. But whereas the south coast has the advantage over the west in
the herring and plaice fisheries, the reverse is the case in the
haddock and cod fisheries, haddock, in particular, being landed in
very small quantities at the south coast ports. Mackerel, however, are
landed principally at the southern ports, and the pilchard is taken
almost solely off the south-western coast. A fish of special
importance to the west coast fisheries is the hake. Among shell-fish,
crabs and oysters are taken principally off the east coast; the oyster
beds in the shallow water off the north Kent and Essex coasts, as at
Whitstable and Colchester, being famous. Lobsters are landed in
greatest number on the south coast.

The number of vessels of every sort employed in fishing was returned
in 1903 as 9721, and the number of persons employed as 41,539, of whom
34,071 were regular fishermen. The development of the steam
trawling-vessel is illustrated by the increase in numbers of these
vessels from 480 in 1893 to 1135 in 1903. They belong chiefly to North
Shields, Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth and Lowestoft. There are a
considerable number on the west coast, but very few on the south.
These vessels have a wide range of operations, pursuing their work as
far as the Faeroe Islands and Iceland on the one hand, and the Bay of
Biscay and the Portuguese coast on the other.

Freshwater fisheries.

The English freshwater fisheries are not of great commercial
importance, nor, from the point of view of sport, are the salmon and
trout fisheries as a whole of equal importance with those of Scotland,
Ireland or Wales. The English salmon and trout fisheries may be
geographically classified thus: (1) _North-western division_, Rivers
Eden, Derwent, Lune, Ribble: (2)_North-eastern_, Coquet, Tyne, Wear,
Tees, &c.; (3) _Western_, Dee, Usk, Wye, Severn; (4) _South-western_,
Taw, Torridge, Camel, Tamar, Dart, Exe, Teign, &c.; (5) _Southern_,
Avon and Stour (Christchurch) and the Itchin and other famous trout
streams of Ha