Unfortunately, the Claddagh men have no organization, no fixed rules, no settled determination to work, unless when pressed by necessity. The appearance of the men and of their cabins show that they are greatly in want of capital; and fishing cannot be successfully performed without a sufficiency of this industrial element.
Illustrations of this neglected industry might be given to any extent. Herring fishing, cod fishing, and pilchard fishing, are alike untouched. The Irish have a strong prejudice against the pilchard; they believe it to be an unlucky fish, and that it will rot the net that takes it. The Cornishmen do not think so, for they find the pilchard fishing to be a source of great wealth.
The pilchards strike upon the Irish coast first before they reach Cornwall. When Mr. Brady, Inspector of Irish Fisheries, visited St. Ives a few years ago, he saw captured, in one seine alone, nearly ten thousand pounds of this fish.
Not long since; according to a northern local paper,[13] a large fleet of vessels in full sail was seen from the west coast of Donegal, evidently ****** for the shore. Many surmises were made about the unusual sight. Some thought it was the Fenians, others the Home Rulers, others the Irish-American Dynamiters. Nothing of the kind! It was only a fleet of Scotch smacks, sixty-four in number, fishing for herring between Torry Island and Horn Head.
The Irish might say to the Scotch fishermen, in the words of the Morayshire legend, "Rejoice, O my brethren, in the gifts of the sea, for they enrich you without ****** any one else the poorer!"But while the Irish are overlooking their treasure of herring, the Scotch are carefully cultivating it. The Irish fleet of fishing-boats fell off from 27,142 in 1823 to 7181 in 1878; and in 1882 they were still further reduced to 6089.[14] Yet Ireland has a coast-line of fishing ground of nearly three thousand miles in extent.
The bights and bays on the west coast of Ireland--off Erris, Mayo, Connemara, and Donegal--swarm with fish. Near Achill Bay, 2000 mackerel were lately taken at a single haul; and Clew Bay is often alive with fish. In Scull Bay and Crookhaven, near Cape Clear, they are so plentiful that the peasants often knock them on the head with oars, but will not take the trouble to net them.
These swarms of fish might be a source of permanent wealth. Agentleman of Cork one day borrowed a common rod and line from a Cornish miner in his employment, and caught fifty-seven mackerel from the jetty in Scull Bay before breakfast. Each of these mackerel was worth twopence in Cork market, thirty miles off.
Yet the people round about, many of whom were short of food, were doing nothing to catch them, but expecting Providence to supply their wants. Providence, however, always likes to be helped.
Some people forget that the Giver of all good gifts requires us to seek for them by industry, prudence, and perseverance.[15]
Some cry for more loans; some cry for more harbours. It would be well to help with suitable harbours, but the system of dependence upon Government loans is pernicious. The Irish ought to feel that the very best help must come from themselves. This is the best method for teaching independence. Look at the little Isle of Man. The fishermen there never ask for loans. They look to their nets and their boats; they sail for Ireland, catch the fish, and sell them to the Irish people. With them, industry brings capital, and forms the fertile seed-gronnd of further increase of boats and nets. Surely what is done by the Manxmen, the Cornishmen, and the Cockenziemen, might be done by the Irishmen. The difficulty is not to be got over by lamenting about it, or by staring at it, but by grappling with it, and overcoming it. It is deeds, not words, that are wanted.
Employment for the mass of the people must spring from the people themselves. Provided there is security for life and property, and an absence of intimidation, we believe that capital will become invested in the fishing industry of Ireland; and that the result will be peace, food, and prosperity.
We must remember that it is only of comparatively late years that England and Scotland have devoted so much attention to the fishery of the seas surrounding our island. In this fact there is consolation and hope for Ireland. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Sir Waiter Raleigh laid before the King his observations concerning the trade and commerce of England, in which he showed that the Dutch were almost monopolising the fishing trade, and consequently adding to their shipping, commerce, and wealth. "Surely," he says, "the stream is necessary to be turned to the good of this kingdom, to whose sea-coasts alone God has sent us these great blessings and immense riches for us to take; and that every nation should carry away out of this kingdom yearly great masses of money for fish taken in our seas, and sold again by them to us, must needs be a great dishonour to our nation, and hindrance to this realm."The Hollanders then had about 50,000 people employed in fishing along the English coast; and their industry and enterprise gave employment to about 150,000 more, "by sea and land, to make provision, to dress and transport the fish they take, and return commodities; whereby they are enabled yearly to build 1000 ships and vessels." The prosperity of Amsterdam was then so great that it was said that Amsterdam was "founded on herring-bones."Tobias Gentleman published in 1614 his treatise on 'England's Way to win Wealth, and to employ Ships and Marines,'[16] in which he urged the English people to vie with the Dutch in fishing the seas, and thereby to give abundant employment, as well as abundant food, to the poorer people of the country.
