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seen the oil sardine on the western coast of India for years, 

 and all of a sudden it would entirely disappear and not 

 appear again for several seasons. With regard to the size 

 of the mesh he would not attempt to offer any opinion, 

 seeing there were so many gentlemen present more 

 competent to speak upon it. It appeared to him that if 

 the herrings were driven out from the inshore fisheries into 

 the open sea there was a necessity for larger boats, and if 

 this resulted, and there was not an increase of harbour 

 accommodation, what were the fishermen to do on the 

 eastern coast of Scotland ? They must be driven down to 

 the ports or beach their boats, which often caused loss of 

 life. He thought, instead of taking all the facts given in 

 these Royal Commissions for granted, they ought to have 

 them supplemented by further investigation. If investiga- 

 tions were carried on in the way in which they were in the 

 United States, so as to ascertain whether any class of 

 fish were increasing or decreasing, what they fed upon, 

 and what it was which caused their food to increase or 

 decrease, or to migrate, they would then be in a better 

 position to judge as to the necessity for legislation on this 

 subject. 



Mr. BRADY (Inspector of Irish Fisheries) said he had 

 listened with great pleasure to the excellent address which 

 had been given, and it was certainly a question of very deep 

 interest whether, as we went on increasing our means of 

 capture, and increasing the amount of food brought up from 

 the ocean, we might not be considered to be killing the 

 goose which laid the golden eggs. He had had the honour 

 on two occasions of mentioning certain facts connected with 

 two bays in Ireland, from which he drew certain con- 

 clusions, which, of course, might be incorrect, but those 

 conclusions were that all restrictions on deep-sea fishing 



