STATISTICS 29 



It would probably be sufficient for all scientific purposes to 

 know within a little the area he got it from.' 



Mr. J. L. M'Naughton, of the Moray Firth Fisheries Associa- 

 tion, was of opinion that ' trawl skippers ought to be compelled 

 to keep a regular log showing from day to day the catch, and 

 the place where it was obtained.' Only the Scottish fishery 

 officers ought to have access to this log. This suggestion would 

 probably not have covered the objection that skippers were 

 disinclined to give away information which might leak out 

 locally and be used by their local competitors. 



So in 1908 it was clear that the Deep-Sea Fleet owners — 

 trawlers and drifters alike — were alive to two facts : the 

 necessity for getting accurate figures, and the fact that the 

 figures as supplied casually to subordinate officials on the dock 

 side tended to be very far from accurate. They offered to co- 

 operate in securing reliable information, and, in England at 

 any rate, their offer was rejected. 



Their opinions have not changed. Mr. G. J. Moody has 

 given evidence on behalf of the British Trawlers Federation 

 to another Committee this year. He reiterated practically all 

 that was said in 1908. The information given to the collectors 

 of statistics had, he said, ' depended entirely upon voluntary 

 acts on the part of skippers and mates and other people, and 

 I should say it has been unreliable.' Trawler owners were quite 

 prepared to give figures which would be accurate ' to a few 

 stones '. If firms were provided with printed postcards ' On 

 His Majesty's Service ', addressed to London, to be filled in 

 every day from the books, and if they were recompensed for 

 the extra work which it would entail for a clerk — say half an 

 hour's work a day — it would be possible to cut down the staff of 

 collectors at the big ports, who provided inaccurate information, 

 and ensure perfectly accurate returns. He was asked whether 

 it would be possible to get at the place of capture by this means ; 

 he replied that it would be impossible to trace the position 

 within twenty miles, but ' you could get the locality '. There 

 would be no objection, he considered, to an occasional check 

 of the figures thus furnished by periodical inspection of the 

 books. ' It is of no interest to anybody. If a vessel lands 

 1,500 levels of fish, with 5 stones of various kinds, what 

 interest is it to anybody in the world ? It does not make any 

 difference to the trawler owner, who knows it.' 



The Future 

 So there are two possible methods of collecting the statistics 

 of the great fisheries. The present method, which means getting 



