THE CATCH OF HAKE 



111 



and especially about hake-fishing, has resulted from this dread 

 of statistics, that he prints the following tables in full, without 

 any apology, and commends them — and the quinquennial ^ 

 statistical tables of the Board of Agriculture, from which most 

 of them are taken — to the very careful consideration of every 

 one interested in the catching of hake. Are the hake in the 

 Atlantic getting fewer in numbers ? Or are there roughly as 

 many hake in one year as in another ? Or are there certain 

 years in which baby hake, like young herrings and cod and 

 haddock, escape the holocaust which is their normal fate ? And 

 if the population does not fluctuate, where are the shoals when 

 they are not to be found on such hake grounds as have been 

 discovered ? And, above all, in each case — ivhat is the cause ? 

 Those are the questions which fishermen, and naturalists, and 

 politicians (if by some miracle the latter ever awake to the 

 potentialities of ocean research) should keep alw^ays in front 

 of them. 



Table showing Fhiduatious on Main Hake G^vuncls 

 South of Ireland. West of Ireland. 



* These are really invaluable because they give the nwntUy catches. 

 ^ ' Cwt'. are cwt. caught per trawler per day's absence from port. 



