'To save the industry from complete ruin': Crisis and response in British fishing 1945-1951

摘要

Fishing is a small, complex and fragmented industry, which arguably exerts political significance disproportionate to its size. This article traces the prolonged period of depression which affected British deep-sea fishing between the wars, and then a more virulent crisis which erupted in the post-war years. It explores how the industry proved unable to respond effectively, requiring intervention from government which followed a similar pattern to that elsewhere in the economy, albeit tailored to the industry's peculiar circumstances and idiosyncratic nature.