43 



If the officials who have advised our Grovernmeiit to 

 take part in the scheme will declare that they regard it 

 merely as a piece of scientific investigation undertaken 

 jointly with certain foreign savants, with the object of 

 obtaining scientific data, and in the hope that the know- 

 ledge so acquired may possibly throw light on some of 

 our fishery problems, then I, for one, will cordially 

 approve of the enlightened action of our Government in 

 supporting scientific research to that extent. But I fear 

 that those who have promoted the scheme will make no 

 such statement. If we may trust newspaper reports the 

 Government have made it clear that they have been 

 induced to join (1) in the hope of getting international 

 regulation of the fisheries, which is remote, and even if 

 attained would be of questionable importance, and (2) 

 by the prospect of getting, within a couple of years, 

 reliable results which will be of practical importance 

 in connection with the fishery questions which aifect 

 Great Britain. How unlikely it is that any such 

 results will be obtained can only be realised by those who 

 have considerable experience of the irregularity of dis- 

 tribution of fish and other living things in the sea. 



The scheme, as formulated in the Christiania pro- 

 gramme, is a scientific investigation which is purely 

 experimental, and which it will be very interesting to 

 watch. But there is absolutely no certainty about the 

 results. There is not even a reasonable probability that 

 the work will lead to any conclusions of economic im- 

 portance. The report of the Ichthyologieal Committee 

 has made this clear especially to naturalists and practical 

 trawlers who have their own experience to judge from. 

 The Committee states that the " fundamental practical 

 problem at the present time is to establish the fact of an 

 increased or decreased yield of the Hsheries within the 



