Excerpt from Report on the Condition of the Sea Fisheries of the South Coast of New England in 1871 and 1872 The importance to the United States of the fisheries on its coasts can scarcely be exaggerated, whether we consider the amount Of wholesome food which they yield, the pecuniary value of their products, the num ber of men and boys for whom they furnish profitable occupation, the stimulus to ship and boat building which they supply, and, not the least of all, their service as a school for seamen, from which the mer chant-marine, as well as the Navy Of the country, derive their most important recruits. A few years ago, in view of the enormous abundance of fish originally existing in the sea, the suggestion of a possible failure would have been considered idle; and the fisheries themselves have been managed with out reference to the possibility of a future exhaustion. The country has, however, been growing very rapidly the construction of railroads and the use or ice for packing have furnished facilities for sending fish in good condition all over the country, and the demand for them has increased in proportion. The Object of those engaged in the fisheries has been to Obtain the largest supply in the shortest possible time, and this has involved more or less of waste, and, in some cases, reckless destruction of the fish. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.