MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 5 



observations go they entirely corroborate those of the 

 year before last which were printed in full in the Seventh 

 Annual Report. On the whole the sea off Port Erin 

 seems to be of a more equable temperature — slightly 

 warmer in winter and slightly colder in summer — than 

 that of the shallow waters off the Lancashire and 

 Cheshire coasts. 



The Proposed Sea-Fish Hatchery. 



It was hoped that before now some arrangement would 

 have been made with the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries 

 Committee or with the Manx Government, or with both 

 these bodies, whereby a Sea-Fish Hatchery for the Irish 

 Sea should be established at Port Erin alongside the 

 Biological Station. We have now advocated that scheme 

 for some years, our Committee has disinterestedly offered 

 to assist by lending tanks for preliminary experiments, by 

 giving the services of their Assistant and in other ways, 

 and successive reports by individuals and committees 

 have shown that the Port Erin site is superior in natural 

 advantages to any of those proposed in Lancashire, 

 Cheshire or North Wales. The water is pure and cool 

 and salt, and the configuration of shore and cliffs is such 

 as to lend itself readily to the formation of a large 

 spawning pond on the beach, while an adjacent creek 

 could easily be converted into a deep vivarium for lobster 

 culture. Our own Committee has no funds to apply to 

 such a purpose, but if any of the powerful bodies interested 

 in promoting the fisheries of the Irish Sea, or in the 

 technical instruction of the fishermen, will provide the 

 money to erect a small experimental hatchery and spawning 

 pond at Port Erin, the Committee is willing to superintend 

 the work for the first few years, and to give time and 

 trouble so as to show what can be done in this locality in 

 the artificial cultivation of food fishes. 



