The cod is the principal fish, though flounders and herrings are also taken, and in smaller quantities salmon, porpoises, and oysters. In 1865, 337 vessels, with a tonnage of 5,330 and about 4,000 men, were employed. The principal fisheries, however, are at the dependencies of Greenland, the Faroe islands, and Iceland. Whale and seal oil is the chief item at Greenland, and codfish at the other points. Iceland in 1853 employed in the fisheries 25 decked boats and 3,481 open boats, with about 7,000 men; in 1870, 63 1arge decked boats and 3,092 open boats, with from 2 to 12 oars each. The large boats are employed generally in the shark fishery, which is carried on mostly on the N. side of the island; the smaller boats in the cod and herring fishery, though the latter is little pursued. Salmon are found in the rivers near Reykiavik and at the north of the island, and small quantities are exported. The exports of fishery products in 1864 were 64,352 quintals of fish and 8,962 barrels of roe and oil; in 1865, 29,307 quintals and 9,972 barrels; in 1866, 39,350 quintals and 9,722 barrels; in 1867, 83,619 quintals and 15,045 barrels; in 1868, 41,824 quintals and 9,335 barrels; in 1869, 56,805 quintals and 8,721 barrels.

The exports of an average year are 50,789 quintals of salt fish, 2,136 of dried fish, 1,188 barrels of salt roe, and 9,105 of liver oil (chiefly shark), valued at $290,108. The total imports into Denmark in 1870 were: salt herrings, 11,829,-126 lbs.; other fish, 3,427,128 lbs.; in 1871, herrings, 19,104,738 lbs.; other fish, 5,494.110 lbs. The exports in 1870 were: fresh fish, 2,090,709 lbs.; herrings, etc, salted, 5,928,580 lbs.; in 1871, fresh fish, 2,188,165 lbs.; herrings, etc, 13,553,236 lbs.-Among other European nations, the Dutch for several centuries took the lead in the fisheries, and the herring fishery was long a chief source of their wealth. It has, however, much declined. In 1867 Holland employed in the deep-sea fisheries 89 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 27,650; number of men in vessels and boats, 11,830. The value of the catch in 1866 was: herrings, $665,668; cod, ling, whiting, etc, $2,328,920; anchovies, $600,500; total, $3,595,088. The imports in 1871 were 14,090 tons of salt herring and 50,600 quintals of cod; exports, 07,-110 tons of salt herring, 84,241,000 smoked herrings, 23,080 quintals of salt cod, 80,600 of dried cod, and 0,850,800 lbs. of fresh sea fish.

The number of fishing boats employed in Belgium in 1871 was 263 of 8,963 tons, employing 1,623 men; the value of imports for consumption was $1,472,600. The annual value of the catch is about $500,000, of which about $200,000 are the product of the cod fishery.-The principal maritime fisheries of Russia in Europe are: the Caspian sea, which produces immense quantities of sturgeon, seals, etc.; the Black sea and sea of Azov, yielding the herring, tunny, salmon, sea trout, and anchovies; and the Baltic, furnishing cod, halibut, salmon, lampreys, etc. The White sea, abounding in herring, cod, and halibut, furnishes almost the sole support of the inhabitants along its coast. The river fisheries are important, the Volga being the most productive, abounding in sturgeon, and supplying largo quantities of caviare. Lakes Ladoga, Onega, and Ilmen, and White lake, contain valuable fisheries. The product of all these sources has been estimated at $11,500,000, of which about one half is the value of the sea fisheries. The coasts of Asiatic Russia swarm with fish, but the fisheries are undeveloped.-The waters of China abound in fish, and it is estimated that one tenth of the people of that empire derive their food from the water.

The coasts are crowded with enterprising and industrious fishermen, and besides the net and the hook, a great variety of expedients are resorted to. In the eastern provinces cormorants are trained to catch fish, which they bring to their master, who from his boat oversees 12 or 15 birds at the same time.-The great sea fisheries of the United States are mostly carried on from New England. They date from the earliest settlement of the country, it being probable that among the motives that led to the colonization of Massachusetts was the hope of profit from the fisheries on the coast, which Smith, Archer, Brereton, and other writers of the day represented as surpassing even those of Newfoundland. Very soon after their arrival at Plymouth the pilgrims engaged in the fisheries. In 102-4 they sent to England a ship laden with fish, and in the next year two others with fish and furs. In 1G28 they were selling fish to the Dutch at New Amsterdam. About 1070 the profits of the mackerel, bass, and herring fisheries at Cape Cod, which appear to have been considered public property, and to have been leased for the general benefit, were granted to found a free school, which was opened in 1671. From Boston fish began to be exported as early as 1633. In 1039 the general court of Massachusetts passed an act to encourage the fisheries, which exempted fishing vessels and all property connected with them from taxes and duties for seven years, and relieved fishermen during the fishing season and ship builders from military duty.

At the close of the 17th century the merchants of Massachu-setts exported annually about 100,000 quintals of codfish, worth $400,000, to Portugal, Spain, and Italy. In 1731 the fisheries of the colony employed 5,000 or 0,000 men. Ten years later the number of fishing vessels belonging to Massachusetts was 400, besides as many shallops and undecked boats. The annual produce of the cod fishery was about 230,000 quintals, of which $700,000 worth was exported. At the outbreak of the revolutionary contest the fishing towns were rich and populous. Mar-blehead was second only to Boston in population and property. In 1775, in the hope of starving New England into submission, the British parliament passed an act to deprive the colonies of the right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland. The breaking out of hostilities which soon followed nearly destroyed the fisheries for a time, and the fishermen of New England turned their attention principally to privateering, though many enlisted in the army. In the negotiation of the treaty of peace in 1783, the right of the Americans to a share in the fisheries was secured by the firmness of John Adams, it being agreed "that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland; also in the gulf of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish; and also, that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use, and also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all other of his Britannic majesty's dominions in America." The British government, however, to check the growth of the fisheries of the United States, and to encourage those of the colonies, by an order in council of July, 1783, prohibited the importation of American fish into the British West Indies, which had been one of the best markets for the New England trade.