FISHERIES also extends below the sea. During 1900 a Chamber of Mines of Cornwall and Devon was established, and a good result may be hoped. Something of the sort was much needed. We must not close our eyes to the fact that Cornish mining has suftered almost as much from bad management, bad faith, and unwise conservatism, as it has from lowness of prices. V. Fisheries Of the antiquity of Cornish fisheries we can only form a conjecture. Fishing leaves no trace in the seas, as mining does in the earth. It has been suggested by Jonathan Couch that the seine-net was introduced by the Phcenicians; and it has further been supposed that certain old cliff entrenchments were really fishing stations. These are guesses of the most barren description; but it may safely be assumed that fishing is much older than either the Phoeni- cians or any artificial earthworks. There is a mention of salt-works, clearly connected with fishing, in Domesday ; and in early Norman days salting or packing fish was only allowed to be done by licence. Little need here be said of mackerel, herring or cod fishing; though prosperous and lucrative, they are by no means distinctive of Cornwall. The fishery most in- teresting and most peculiar to the duchy is that of pilchards — which, unhappily, like certain other Cornish industries, appears to be on the down grade. Those who know best
