The English fisheries were exceedingly prosperous between 1795 and 1815. In 1814, 1,200,000 quintals offish were produced, worth $12,000,000. After this period the fishery soon fell entirely into the hands of the colonists, and the distant fishery from England ceased.-The home fisheries of the British islands are of great extent and importance, the herring fishery of Scotland holding the first place. Cod, hake, and ling are also extensively taken in Scotland. Along the English coast are found cod, herring, mackerel, turbot, lobsters, oysters, etc, which are taken in large quantities fresh to the London market. The pilchard fishery is carried on along the shores of Cornwall and Devonshire, employing during the season from 2,500 to 3,000 fishermen, and producing an average of 25,000 hogsheads of pilchards annually. In Ireland the fisheries have fallen off since the famine, the people being too poor to procure the necessary boats and outfits. In 1846 the number of vessels and boats engaged in fishing was 10,883, with 113,073 men; in 185(3, 11,096, with 48,774 men; in 1866, 0,444, with 40,663 men; in 1868, 9,184, with 30,330 men; and in 1872, 7,014, with 31,311 men.

In the last named year 1,113 of the vessels, with 5,438 men, were solely engaged in fishing; 685, with 3,126 men, principally; and 6,116, with 22,747 men, only partially. The number of those only partially engaged is probably too large by some 8,000, and they are for the most part employed only a few days in the year. The herring and mackerel fishery is perhaps the most important on the Irish coast, and is largely participated in by Cornish, Manx, and Scotch boats. The annual catch is valued at about £450,000. From Dublin to Waterford trawling is extensively carried on to supply the Dublin market. Herrings are caught here, and off Arklow and Wexford are the principal oyster banks. From Cork to Cape Clear the mackerel is chiefly taken, Kinsale being the headquarters of that fishery, while from Ardglass to Dublin is the principal herring fishery. The value of the oysters annually taken is about £50,000. The salmon fisheries of the rivers of Great Britain and Ireland are very productive; they are regulated by law, and are in general private property.

The estimated value of the catch of England and Wales has increased within a few years from £20,000 or £30,000 to £100,000; the Irish yield is about £400,000 a year, and that of the Scotch salmon fisheries about £300,000. In 1869 there were 5,113 persons employed in the salmon fishery of England and Wales"; in 1870, 4,593; in 1871, 5,437; in 1872, 5,217, of whom 2,907 were net fishermen and 2,310 anglers. The number of vessels fitted out for the fishery of cod, etc., in Scotland in 1872 was 155, of 6,400 tons and 1,624 men; for the herring fishery, 95 vessels, of 2,976 tons and 434 men. The number of decked and undecked boats engaged in the shore-curing fisheries was 15,232, with an aggregate tonnage of 106,464, employing 46,178 fishermen and boys, 863 curers, and 41,930 (estimated) other persons. The value of boats was £381,338; of nets, £521,327; of lines, £94,628; total value of equipments, £997,293. In 1869 there were registered at the several ports of the United Kingdom 42,960 fishing boats, with an aggregate tonnage of 242,170, giving employment to 152,779 men and 13,969 boys.

Of these numbers 16,195 boats, with a tonnage of 127,013, employing 54,757 men and boys, belonged to England and Wales; 17,969'boats, 87,001 tons, and 73,179 men and boys, to Scotland; and 8,796 boats, 28,165 tons,and 38,812 men and boys, to Ireland. In 1872 the number registered was 40,546, with an aggregate tonnage of 261,761, viz.: England and Wales, 15,331 of 140,535 tons; Scotland, 16,765 of 02,505 tons; Ireland, 8,450 of 2S,051 tons.

Of the whole number, 5,284 of 145,387 tons were of the first class (15 tons and over), 25,452 of 102,392 tons of the second class (under 15 tons, not navigated by oars alone), and 9,810 of 14,002 tons of the third class (navigated by oars only). Besides the above, there were 375 boats of 5,047 tons registered at the Isle of Man, and 802 of 2,988 tons at the Channel islands. The following table exhibits the quantity of white herrings (salted in barrels) and of cod, ling, and hake cured in Great Britain at various periods, the returns after 1851 being confined to Scotland and the Isle of Man, and after 1868 to Scotland:

The chief seats of the herring fishery are Stor-noway in the Hebrides, Peterhead and Fra-serburgh in Aberdeenshire, and Wick. More than half of the cod, etc, are caught at the Shetland islands, and considerable quantities are taken at the Orkney islands and from Stornoway. The trade of the "United Kingdom in fish and the products thereof, from 18G8 to 1872, is shown in the following tables:

The fish oil is brought chiefly from British America and the United States; fresh fish from Holland and Norway; and cured or salted fish from British America, Norway, France, the United States, and Denmark.

Exports

Included in the fourth column for 1871 arc 7 752 cwt. of salmon, valued at £43.926; 28,871 of cod, etc, £33,490; 23,667 bushels of oysters, £36,741; and 30,548 hogsheads of pilchards, £86,319. Of the herrings, 451,015 barrels were sent to Germany, and 72,1(32 to Italy. The other fish is exported chiefly to France, Italy (which receives nearly all the pilchards), Belgium, Spain, and the Canaries. In 1871, 447,300 gallons of oil, valued at £57,-514, the produce of foreign and colonial fisheries, were exported.-In Italy, in 18(39, 29,-385 men (including about 4,000 engaged in the coral fishery) were returned as employed in fishing; in 1870, 30,848; but these numbers are believed to be below the truth. In the former year 8,346 men were engaged in the sea fishery, and the rest in the coast fishery. In fishing proper there were 11,219 boats of 37,733 tons, of which 9,817 of 25,414 tons were employed along the coast, 670 of 5,556 tons at sea, and 732 of 6,763 tons in foreign waters; in 1870 the number of boats was 11,129, with an aggregate tonnage of 38,554. The foreign waters visited are chiefly those of the Austrian coast (Istria and Dalmatia); a smaller number of vessels frequent the coasts of Corsica and Provence in France, and the rest are employed in the Grecian seas and along the shores of Algeria, Tunis, and Egypt. The richest Italian fisheries are in the Adriatic, especially near Chioggia and Venice, while the sea near Liguria is the least productive.