SEA FISHERIES 107 



the Central Fishery Authority for England and Wales, and the 

 provision of additional funds to the Board for the encouragement 

 of local work ; the continuance of adequate provision to the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland for local scientific research ; the 

 continuance of international co-operation in scientific and 

 statistical investigations upon a definite and permanent basis ; 

 and finally, the continuance of the annual grant of £1,000 to 

 the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 



The chief difference between the position in 1908 as com- 

 pared with 1902 was that the Government were expending 

 about £13,000 per annum on the international investigations. 

 In the Civil Service estimates for 1907-8 we find under the 

 heading of " North Sea Fisheries Investigation " an amount of 

 £12,500, being the sixth instalment on account of expenditure 

 in connection with the international scheme for investigating 

 problems concerning the fisheries of the North Sea and adjacent 

 waters. The agents of the Government for the purposes of 

 these investigations were in Scotland the Fishery Board, and 

 in England the Marine Biological Association, to each of whom 

 the sum of £5,500 was payable annually. In addition the 

 annual sum of £1,250 was paid as a contribution to the Central 

 Bureau which had been established at Copenhagen. The fact 

 that the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, the central 

 authority for Fisheries in England, had been ignored in the 

 allocation of these grants was a cause of considerable friction 

 between the Board and the Association, as will be seen from a 

 study of the evidence given before the Committee of 1908. 



Ultimately the Board gained the victory, and they took over 

 the control of England's share of the international investigations 

 in 1910. 



The next important event in the history of scientific fishery 

 research was the passing of the Development and Road Im- 

 provement Funds Act of 1909. According to this Act the sum 

 of £500,000 was to be set aside for five years for certain 

 purposes, amongst which was " the development and improve- 

 ment of the Fisheries." Applications for funds for this purpose 

 were to be made in writing to the Treasury, who would refer 

 the matter to the Development Commissioners for report. 



In the first annual report of the Development Commissioners 

 dated July 191 1, there is one paragraph which refers to the 

 fisheries, viz., " In respect to the development and improve- 



