5 8 4 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



caught by the fishermen for the public markets. Fishery regu- 

 lations have three main objects: (i) economic ones, such as the 

 early "semi-commercial" legislation of the Scottish Fishery 

 Board, which aimed at the building up of a national fishing 

 industry by the application of a thorough-going system of 

 bounties ; or, in our own day, that of the Congested Districts 

 Board of Ireland ; (2) police regulations pure and simple, which 

 have no other object than the prevention of disputes between 

 the fishermen of the same or different countries working in close 

 proximity to each other; and (3) restrictions on modes or times 

 of fishing intended to conserve the public fish supply. It is 

 always necessary when discussing fishery legislation to dis- 

 tinguish between these three main categories of regulations, for 

 their aims are implied rather than explicitly stated in the 

 statutes. The first two may conceivably be devised without 

 any profound knowledge of marine natural history, but the 

 latter must certainly be founded on a correct appreciation of 

 the bearing of what we know of the habits, etc., of fishes in the 

 sea. If our knowledge of these things is scanty, it must be 

 extended before we can legislate with any degree of success. 



Twenty-five years ago fishery restrictions were practically 

 unknown. Those who had been concerned with the administra- 

 tion of the industry had been influenced by the economic 

 doctrines current in the middle of the nineteenth century, and 

 the earlier policy which taught that it was the duty of the State 

 to foster by artificial means the national industries had fallen 

 into disfavour. Previously to 1870 the fishing industry was the 

 object of a great number of legislative restrictions, but under 

 the influence of Huxley, Spencer Walpole, and others, a 

 "liberalising and liberating" policy had been put into operation, 

 and the fisheries were left to take care of themselves — no great 

 hardship at the time. Bounties had before this time disappeared, 

 and now fishery restrictions were with very few exceptions 

 swept away. In the beginning of the 'eighties the fishing 

 industry was about to experience a process of remarkable 

 development which can be traced to three causes : the adoption 

 of steam as a method of propulsion of fishing boats, the invention 

 and general use of the otter trawl (this, however, came later on), 

 and the application of methods of cold storage to the preserva- 

 tion of the catches made by fishing boats. The immense 

 development of the fishing industry in the 'eighties and 'nineties 



