BULLETIN OF THE LTS'ITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 71 



fisbermeu must either remove to ports with good harbors or starve. 

 The harbor question must be cousiderrd as a national one. Even if 

 the State is unable to grant large sums to build harbors, it ought, in' 

 addition to lending at a small rate of interest, to ascertain which of the 

 fishing harbors ought to be extended, and where new harbors should 

 be erected, the position of the fishing banks, abundance of bait, &c., 

 determining to a certain extent the sites. This information could, per- 

 haps, best be obtained by means of a small committee of experts as 

 suggested by the harbor committee which recently reported — the com- 

 mittee to include some one able to advise as to the value of the fishing 

 grounds in the vicinity of the proposed harbors. Given suitable har- 

 bors and all the necessary appliances for capturing and landing fish at 

 the fishing stations, the question then arises as to how the fish are to 

 be conveyed to the consumers. If we take Shetland, for example, I 

 would suggest that at the outset a large station be formed, provided 

 with stores, in which fresh fish could be packed in ice or other preserv- 

 atives, and, if necessary, frozen — where, in fact, by icing, freezing, or 

 other means fish could be maintained in a perfectly fresh condition until 

 placed on board the fish-carriers. In addition to the one large station 

 in Shetland it would be necessary to have a number of small ones, from 

 which the fish could be sent in ice or other preservative to the large 

 station by small steamers or otherwise. From the central station the 

 steam fish-carriers should run two or three times a week, taking in or 

 leaving consignments on the way until London or some port on the 

 east coast of England is reached. Each steamer would, in all prob- 

 ability, require to be provided with a refrigerator in order to preserve 

 the fish. The steam fish-carriers on the east coast might call on the way 

 south at one or more points in Shetland and Orkney, at Wick, Buckie, 

 Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Aberdeen, Montrose, Anstruther, Eyemouth, 

 and Berwick for parcels of fish, and leave them at various ports along 

 the English coast as they proceeded on their way to London. 



The Orkney Islands would require at least one central station, and 

 similar stations might be formed at all the fishing centers called at. 

 On the west coast, stations might be formed at Stornoway (perhaps 

 Irfter at Xess and Port-na-Gurin), Gairloch, Bracadale, Loch Boisdale, 

 Castle Bay, and Tiree. Fish could, if necessary, be carried from the 

 smaller stations in the vicinity of these ports by means of small steam- 

 ers. From the stations named, and perhaps from others in addition, 

 steamers would carry fresh fish to Liverpool and other ports on the 

 west coast. The managers of the various stations on both coasts might 

 be in direct communication with fish salesmen and, if possible, with 

 fish retailers throughout the country, so that few middlemen would be 

 required. 



As soon as the fishermen on the west coast were assured that their 

 fish, by being carried regularly to market, would bring fair returns, 

 they would devote themselves to their calling with renewed energy, and 



