386 EXAMINATION OF THE PRESENT STATE 
that the authorities may see their way to give effect to this recom- 
mendation. I have endeavoured above to formulate suggestions for 
what appear to be the most urgently required improvements in the 
existing system of returns. Though based upon the conditions of 
the Grimsby industry, it is probable that they are equally applicable 
to all fishing centres, and they may be briefly recapitulated as 
follows : 
1. An absolute separation of the products of different methods of 
fishing. 
2, An exact account of the expenditure of fishing power in each 
branch. 
3. Discrimination as between large and small fish of a species. 
4, A more complete separation of species (so that lemon soles, 
witches, &c., may be separately enumerated). 
5. Discrimination, as complete as may be practicable, of the 
locality of capture. 
I have made no mention of meteorological information, since I do 
not think there is any necessity for the Fisheries Department to go 
to any expense in collecting statistics of this kind at first hand, but 
the ample information available to every one from the Meteorological 
Office should certainly be carefully considered in the preparation of 
fishery returns. The weather is known to have the most important 
bearing on fishery operations, not only at the time of incidence, but 
often in the succeeding season ; and the remarks “ As to the weather, 
&c.,” in the “Summary of the Returns made by collectors of Fishery 
Statistics,” if based on the most profound examination of meteoro- 
logical phenomena, bear no intrinsic evidence of the fact. 
It is hardly necessary to say that the preparation of returns so 
complete as those which I recommend calls for no mean degree of 
intelligence on the part of the collector; and intelligence, like any 
other commodity, has to be paid for. I think it is essential, too, 
that the official in charge of the whole system of fishery returns 
should be skilled not only in the commercial, but also in the bio- 
logical aspect of the fisheries. Such knowledge would enable him 
to grasp at once the probable importance of any development 
indicated in the monthly returns of his subordinates, and, if a 
reserve fund were at his disposal, to institute whatever subsidiary 
inquiries the case might appear to call for. 
Without a system of statistics at least as complete as the above, I 
do not see that one can acquire even an approximate idea of the 
state of the fishery for the current year, nor would a long series 
of incomplete returns yield any reliable ground of conclusion at a 
future time. 
