THE IMPOVERISHMENT OF IHE SEA. 33 



prepared in the manner described and reduced to tons, are given for the 

 various coasts in Table YIII. (p. 34). 



The only source of uncertainty (apart from the question as to the 

 general reliability of the official returns) which I can discover in this 

 method of determining the annual quantities of bottom fish landed 

 arises from the unspecified nature of the item which appears in the 

 Statistical Tables as "Fish not separately distinguished, except shell- 

 fish." As this item, however, clearly includes such fish as whitings, 

 gurnards, dabs, skates, and rays, and as all the important drift-net 

 fish are separately distinguished, no appreciable error can be introduced 

 by treating this item of sundries as forming part of the total of bottom 

 fish. It forms one-fifth of the total catch in 1889, and one-seventh 

 in 1898 ; but the proportion is considerably greater for the South and 

 West Coasts than for the East Coast — a feature of which one would 

 like to know the explanation. 



2. Statistics of Fishing Boats. 



By Clause 17 of an Order in Council of the 18th of June, 1869, which 

 has reference to the Eegistration of British Sea Fishing Boats under 

 Part II. of the Sea Fisheries Act of 1868, it is provided that the register 

 of sea fishing boats shall contain, among other details, " the name of the 

 vessel and of the port to which she belongs, description of her rig and 

 of her ordinary mode of fishing, her registered number, class, tonnage, 

 and length of keel, and number of crew usually employed." 



In view of this provision I expected, in the course of the present 

 investigation, to be able to obtain an authentic statement of the number 

 of trawling vessels on the register for each of the past ten years ; but, 

 after correspondence with the Customs Establishment and the Board 

 of Trade, it has been found necessary to depend upon indirect sources 

 of information, in consequence of information received from the Board 

 of Trade to the effect that "the Ptcturns rendered by Collectors of 

 Customs prior to 1893 no longer exist" (March, 1900). This 

 circumstance is much to be regretted, for I am confident that for the 

 purposes of fishery statistics the unpublished portions of the fishing- 

 boat registers contain data which are sufficient to provide an authentic 

 list of the numbers of deep-sea fishing boats engaged in trawling, even 

 if they are of less value for determining the numbers of deep-sea line 

 vessels and drifters. It is rare, however, for the same port to possess 

 fleets of all three classes of vessel, so that even the numbers of first 

 class liners and drifters could usually be obtained by deducting the 

 number of registered trawlers from the total of all kinds registered 

 at the respective ports. 



Nevertheless, in spite of the absence of any official lists of the total 



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