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certain fish, such as the hake, bass, and haddock are now very 

 rarely seen, though they were plentiful not long' ago. On 

 the other hand, the picked dog shark and the porpoise have^ 

 unfortunately, considerably increased, and both of these are 

 causing extensive injury to the pilchard, herring, and mackerel 

 fisheries. The author states that the only thing which seems 

 to disturb the dog sharks isi the advent of numbers of the 

 maternal ling fish on their way to their spawning grounds. 

 They are able to drive away the depredators, and it is sug- 

 gested that quite probably the hake, with its sharp teeth, 

 was able, before its partial extinction, to produce the same 

 effect as the ling fish. Porpoises were at one time exten- 

 sively captured on the American coasts for their oil, which 

 commanded a ready sale, until, on their becoming scarce, 

 another source of an equally good oil was found, and the 

 hunting of the porpoise ceased. It is suggested that porpoises 

 might be again utilised on the British coasts, or a reward 

 offered for their destruction. 



It is obvious, therefore, that by continuous destruction of 

 some kinds of fish, and neglect to provide for the continuance 

 of the specie®, coupled with the failure' to destroy other kinds,^ 

 the balance of nature is disturbed and enormous injury 

 caused, and there are signs that this is taking place on our 

 own coasts as well as elsewhere. It is well known that there 

 is now a serious falling off in the fish supply of the United 

 Kingdom, or perhaps it would be more correct to say the fish 

 are much more difficult to find, and that the supply is only 

 kept up by more perfect appliances for capture and for de- 

 livery in a condition fit for consumption. Stea.m trawlers, 

 for example, have been introduced, their speed has been in- 

 creased, and they can, therefore, travel longer distances. They 

 now go as far as Iceland northwards, and the Bay of Biscay 

 southwards, and experiments have been made by Scottish 

 trawlers as far as Newfoundland, the result in the latter case, 

 however, being only smaller hauls than were obtainable 30" 

 years ago on the British coasts. In fact, were it not that 

 the authorities are waking up to the necessity for action 

 the almost total extinction of certain kinds of fish would seem 

 to be only ai question of time, and this will, I believe, take 

 place here unless the authorities take up the matter in 

 thorough earnest. It is quite true that we know too little 

 of the conditions prevailing here tO' state exactly the cause 

 of depletion, but that is all the more reason for trying to- 

 find out the influences at work. This leads then to the con- 

 sideration of the remedy, if any be possible, for the existing 

 state of affairs. The first point to be emphasised is the 



