FISHERIES INVESTIGATION. I7 



The great and widespread movement towards the elucida- 

 tion of hsheries problems which has begun to manifest itself 

 during the last few years in the various States of Australia, 

 led by New South Wales, and which must ultimately tend 

 to remove a great many of the disabilities under which we 

 at present labor, has recently taken a very definite and 

 tangible shape. By the action of the Australian (Common- 

 wealth) Government in taking the necessary steps to bring 

 about the formation of an Australian Fisheries Bureau, with 

 also the avowed intention of prosecuting a thorough and 

 searching inquiry of a permanent character into the nature 

 and importance of our boundless marine resources, a great 

 forward step has been taken. The fine investigation ship 

 which is now under construction in New South Wales for the 

 Commonwealth Government must itself be a very powerful 

 instrument in the collection of useful and highly-important 

 data in regard to the identity, occurrence, periodicity, and 

 distribution of our fishes — particularly, I think, those of a 

 pelagic or oceanic nature, of which we possess so many 

 valuable species, and about which we know so little. It is 

 to be sincerely hoped that the Commonwealth Government 

 will prosecute in a liberal and vigorous manner work so well 

 begun, as the amount of benefit to be derived (either directly 

 or indirectly) from properly carried out Fisheries investiga- 

 tion work, is almost incalculable. This has already been 

 found to apply in older countries which had already genera- 

 tions of knowledge and experience to build upon; and this 

 being so, how much more imperative it is for the work to be 

 carried on in waters such as our own, where so little has been 

 learnt. 



But even if the Commonwealth Government carries out this 

 work, and does it in the way hoped for, the separate States 

 should not be idle, and each one should have a complete 

 staff of scientific workers whose duty it would be to inquire 

 into and advise upon fisheries problems generally, and more 

 particularly matters with which the individual States are 



