MINING THE SEAS OF TOMORROW'S FISH - Mike Wood & John D Stettaford - January 1976

Mike Wood & John D Stettaford

LONDON: Cod and chips are still a tasty part of the staple British diet – but for how much longer? The humble cod, like every popular species of fish we eat, is threatened by three decades of intense "super" fishing, which is fast depleting the supposedly inexhaustible supply of fish in the seas. The end of World War II left most nations desperately short of food and without the time to grow food on farms. Maritime countries seized on fish to meet the immediate need. Left largely undisturbed for six war-time years, the oceans were teeming with all kinds of fish. Following the war a crash program of building modem fishing fleets was begun. The new vessels took every advantage of naval electronic detection and navigational devices developed during the war. Even the change from the cumbersome coal-fired steam engine to the compact, powerful - and (then) cheap to operate - diesel engine made long distance deep sea fishing practical for the first time. And the development of deep freeze in the early '50s completed the required technology. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library