INTRODUCTION 9 



a much larger share than the Gannets. As Professor 

 Huxley has well said, the Gannet is only one among a 

 host of enemies with which the fish have to contend, and 

 if we are to reduce the numbers of one enemy, to be 

 consistent, we must reduce the numbers of all. But who is 

 there, with a love of Nature in his soul, who will not agree 

 that there are enough herrings in the sea for man and the 

 birds too, and that for the sake of their beauty the Gannets 

 are worth their share of them. 



(3) But the most potent argument in favour of the 

 Gannet is that the breeding of sea-fish — e.g., herrings and 

 mackerel — is almost without limit, and that being so, Gannets 

 and other birds, and fish also, may eat almost any number 

 they like, without appreciably diminishing the general source 

 of supply. In support of this it would not be difficult to 

 quote figures from several sources, but I will content myself 

 with one, and that is the catch of herrings as taken from 

 authorized returns, as issued from one port, that of Great 

 Yarmouth. This is not the only port of our great east 

 coast fishery, there are Lowestoft, Grimsby, and others, 

 to say nothing of the Scotch ports, but Yarmouth has 

 long been one great emporium of the trade. 



On November 13th, 1902, a single herring smack put into 

 the port of Great Yarmouth Avith 396,000 herrings. Two 

 days previously the fishing fleet had landed between 54 and 



