Anderton. — Observations on Neiv Zealand Fishes. 493 



accommodation, meals, use of pumps, &c., provided free of any 

 cost whatever. I would like to take this opportunity of thank- 

 ing Mr. Sullivan, and the captains, engineers, and crews of the 

 trawlers " Express " and " Napier," for their kind assistance 

 at all times, and especially Mr. Baird, the engineer of the 

 " Express," for the collection of many thousands of ova when 

 it has been impossible for me to leave the station. 



With the present limited means and facilities it is not for 

 one moment pretended that any practical results may be ex- 

 pected from the infinitely small numbers of larvae that are being 

 from time to time liberated, the total for the two years being 

 under five millions. The station must for some time to come 

 remain a purely experimental one, involving only a small expen- 

 diture, the chief benefits to be derived from which are the accu- 

 mulation of facts, which are now steadily being recorded, with- 

 out a knowledge of which it is impossible to frame any beneficial 

 legislation. This knowledge, if followed up carefully for a 

 number of years, will form a substantial base for future and 

 more extensive operations. 



It is often remarked that it is not the small fish that, as at 

 present, should be protected, but the large mature ones, ab 

 spawning-time : that is to say, there should be a close season, as 

 is the case wuth the trout and salmon. This method of con- 

 serving the marine fishes, though quite practicable with a 

 purely sporting fish like the trout, is obviously impossible with 

 a staple article of diet, and would mean a suspension of all 

 fishing during two or three months of the year. The injurious 

 effects of overfishing have .long ago been experienced in the 

 older and more thickly populated countries, and these have in 

 many instances been benefited by wise legislation, and latterly 

 by artificial propagation. Notwithstanding this, it is still 

 sometimes asserted that it is impossible for man by overfishing 

 to upset the " balance of nature," and that even if an area 

 were completely denuded of all life, nature, in her bounteous 

 generosity, would at once assert her rights and .establish her 

 former balance of species. In support of this, it is pointed 

 out that more fish are taken annually around the British coast 

 than was the case a hundred years ago. But it must be remem- 

 bered that whereas all the fishing was then done by lines and 

 saihng-trawlers, within easy reach of the coast, there are now 

 engaged hundreds of large well - equipped steam-trawlers, en- 

 gaged in trawling at a distance of hundreds of miles from the 

 coast, and as far north as Iceland. 



It is generally admitted that to maintain the balance of a 

 species it is only necessary for two from the hundreds of thou- 

 sands, and in many cases millions, of eggs produced by a single 



