The Columbus Commercial

LACK OF FISH HITS
ALL EUROPE HARD
North Sea Trawling Paralyzed
by War Zone Raiders.

PINCH OF SCARCITY IS FELT
Annual Catch of Million and a Quarter
Tons of Sea Food For Rich and Poor
Suddenly Cut Off Adds to Peril of
Starvation, Which Even In Neutral
Countries Are Feared.

"With its war zones and counter
war zones, its mined areas, its hostile
fleets and its heavily defended shores
the North Sea in a few months has
been transformed from one of the richest
food producing areas in Christendom
into a region upon whose mastery
may depend the starvation of one or
the other of two of the mightiest na-
tions of the earth."

The above statement appears in the
current issue of the National Geographic
Magazine, the official organ of the
National Geographic society. The na-
tions referred to are not named. but
it is apparent that the countries re-
ferred to are England and Germany.

The article, which is unsigned. points
out that in times of peace "no other
like area has given to humanity such
rich supplies of food" as has the North
Sea. There more than in any other
known region of the oceans. it adds,
the food fishes congregate.

The fish food output of the North Sea
in the year preceding the present war
totaled 1,250,000 tons.

Food of Rich and Poor.

"Today." says the article, "a hundred
thousand Englishmen who manned the
steam trawls, the drifter and the sail-
ing boat; tens of thousands of Ger-
mans who vied with them in their
work; Belgians, the French, the Dutch,
the Danes and the Scandinavians. who
also helped exploit the North Sea fish-
eries all of these are largely out of
jobs. Fishing boats now sweep the
sea for mines instead of seining it for
fish.

"Germany cannot look to the Baltic
for any large supply of fish to replace
her former supplies from the North
Sea, for the waters of that sea are
poor producing grounds. The total an-
ual yield there is only about a tenth
as great as that of the North Sea, and
Germany's share of this is in normal
times very small.

"Great Britain's North Sea fisheries
represent nearly two-thirds of the total
catch there and are more than eight
times as large as those of Germany.

"In the North Sea three-fifths of the
total catch are herring; haddock takes
second place, constituting 11 per cent
of the total; cod comes third, with 8.5
per cent, and the plaice fourth, with
4.3 per cent of the total catch. In the
matter of values the ratio is somewhat
different from that of weights. Con-
stituting 62.7 per cent of the weight
of the season's catch. the herrings ac-
counts for only 45.4 per cent of its
value.

"The vast proportion of the fish con-
sumed in Europe is salt fish. The
fresh fish go to the tables of the rich.
while the herring and other salted va-
rieties are consumed principally by
the masses. The result is that when
the pinch in the fish supply began to
come it visited the homes of the well
to do first. All of the countries at war
probably have enough salt fish in their
warehouses to tide over a considerable
period. but if the war keeps up this
reserve must disappear.

"Not only do the nations at war feel
the pinch of the fish shortage caused
by the war, but neutral nations as
well. Holland feels it sorely from a
production standpoint, as do also Swe-
den, Norway and Denmark. On the
other hand, it hits Switzerland more
from a consumption standpoint. That
country normally buys nearly $1,000,
000 worth of fish from the countries
that border the North Sea.

Hard to Realize Here

"We in America. where fish forms
such a minor part of our daily diet and
where so many of the fish that we eat
are grown in our rivers and bays, un-
der a great American originated sys-
tem of fish culture. find it hard to real-
ize how serious in their proportions
and how farreaching in their conse-
quences are the results of the practical
closing down of the fisheries of the
North Sea.

"Europe has depended very much on
these fisheries for fish supplies. More
than half of all the fish produced on
all the fishing grounds operated by Eu-
ropeans are caught within the limited
territory that constitutes the North Sea
fishing grounds. How much they are
depended upon is shown by the fact
that Great Britain annually absorbs
500,000 tons of North Sea fish. That
means twenty-two pounds per capita.
And, while this is small in proportion
to her per capita meat consumption of
119 pounds, yet it is that margin which
represents the difference between a
bounteous plenty and positive hunger
unless other foods can be secured to
take its place.

The same condition applies to Ger-
many Not only has that country here-
tofore used all of its own catch, but
has annually imported more than 1,500.
000 barrels from other countries around
the North Sea. The United Kingdom
and Germany are the two greatest meat
eating nations of the six leading ones
now at war, Germany's per capita con-
sumption being 113 pounds."