44 



available area of supply, and the most pressing part of 

 this problem relates to the more sedentary and local fish, 

 such as flat fish." That, it will be generally agreed, is what 

 we in England want, and moreover it is obvious that, as 

 the Committee reports, " To establish the fact of an 

 increase or decrease of the fisheries, information must be 

 obtained as to the amount of fish caught on particular 

 grounds by vessels sufiiciently numerous to supply data 

 representative of the total yield.'' The method in all 

 such investigations must be the one of taking adequate 

 samples and drawing conclusions from these samples. 

 " It follows that any scheme of research, however 

 elaborately planned or carefully carried out, will fail in 

 its object if the samples are not taken over a sufiiciently 

 large area, and at sufficiently frequent intervals, to be 

 truly representative of the area and period which they 

 are supposed to represent." xSow, we have ready to our 

 hand in the cargoes of fish landed at our ports by the 

 commercial fishing fleets, samples incomparably larger, 

 more numerous, and more frequently and regularly taken 

 than those of any number of specially equipped vessels 

 likely to be put on our seas by any European Govern- 

 ments. It is one of the recommendations of the 

 Ichthyological Committee that these '* commercial 

 samples " be made available for scientific work, that statis- 

 tical returns in the right fomi, giving all the particulars 

 required, such, e.g., as exact localities, be arranged for, 

 and that officials be stationed at the principal fishing 

 ports to inspect the catches and select any samples 

 required for further examination in the laboratory. 



It would be possible, perhaps, with a few special vessels, 

 in a few years, to make an approximate fisheries survey 

 of limited circumscribed areas such as the Irish Sea, the 

 Clyde sea-area, or the English Channel, but not of the 



