November 25, 1920] 



NATURE 



419 



Science and Fisheries. 

 By H. G. Maurice, C.B. 



I SHALL, without apology, introduce a controversial 

 topic, and endeavour to maintain a view which 

 1 myself hold with conviction. That view, ex- 

 pressed in the simplest terms, is that scientific 

 investigations of fisheries are primarily a matter for 

 the State, and can, as a whole, be most successfully 

 conducted by a Government Department charged with 

 responsibility for fishery matters. I believe — and I 

 may say that, in a general sense, it is the view of 

 the Department of State I have the honour to repre- 

 sent — that a Department of Fisheries which does not 

 conduct such investigations is, ipso facto, unfitted for 

 the work it has to do and might as well cease to 

 exist, and that in many respects the State is better 

 placed for the purpose than a semi-private institution. 



A Live Department of Fisheries Must do Scientific 

 Work. 



The function of a Fisheries Department is to pro- 

 mote progress in the industry. .■Ml development in 

 the fisheries and in the trades allied to fisheries is 

 dependent, in the long run, upon scientific investiga- 

 tions. A Department of Fisheries which is not 

 adequately equipped for scientific research is, in my 

 view, incapable of developmental work, and ought 

 not to be kept in being at the public expense, because 

 it certainly can do little good, and it may do a great 

 deal of harm. If it is suggested that the Department 

 can act on the reports of others, I say that that is 

 not so. The Department must have a scientific 

 intelligence of its own. In the ordinary course of 

 events scarcely a day passes on which administrative 

 officers have not occasion to seek information or 

 advice of the scientific staff. Supposing that they 

 could rely upon mere reference to scientific reports, 

 the Department must have scientific officers to advise 

 it on the bearings of those reports upon its 

 vork, and you can imagine what kind of a scientific 

 i.iff it would be that existed merely for the perusal 

 of reports and was cut off from every prospect of 

 active scientific work and individual research. 



There are many things which a properly equipped 

 Department may do for the maintenance and develop- 

 ment of the British fisheries, but there is practically 

 nothing it can do effectively — and it is almost certain 

 that it will do a great deal of mischief — if it has not 

 a thoroughly competent, well-equipped, and earnest 

 scientific staff actively engaged in scientific research. 

 I say, therefore, that the Department of Fisheries 

 must conduct scientific investigations. 



Fishery Investigations can most Successfully be 

 Conducted by the State. 



(1) To begin with, for all practical investigations 

 of the sea there must be a broad basis of statistics, 

 and no person or institution can have the same 

 facilities for the collection of statistics as a Govern- 

 ment Depnrtment the authority of which is recognised 

 In every fishing port. I have no doubt that if the 

 Marine Biological Association sought statistics of 

 the fi«;h l.inded in the port of PIvmouth, and, indeed, 

 any n'^chbouring ports, it would get statistics of a 

 sort (iladly given in a fricmlly spirit. It would be 

 diflTiriilt for if, however, to guar.Tnlee their accuracy, 

 and if it asked for similar statistics at such distant 

 ports as Grimsby, Hull, Fleetwood, etc., it would 



< 0|Mrnin|[ oTa diaruiiion on "Th« Nxd for ih< .Sciditilk Invminiion 

 of FiihefiM " in Soction D(Zaologr)of ih« llriilib AMOcUlloa Hi Cudiff on 

 Auguii ttf. 



NO. 2665, VOL". 106] 



probably be refused, and the statistics would almost 

 certainly not be accurate if given. 



(2) The Department of Fisheries must be in close 

 and constant touch with the fishing industry — that is 

 to say, with the owners of fishing vessels, skippers, 

 mates, and crews. It is, therefore, in a position 

 to get assistance from them in various forms. One 

 very valuable form of such assistance is the sugges- 

 tions which fishermen themselves may offer, and 

 which, even if wide of the mark, may, at any rate, 

 be pregnant of ideas, as to what needs to be inves- 

 tigated, what lines investigations might usefully 

 follow, or what is actually the cause of a hitherto 

 unexplained phenomenon. Practical assistance can 

 be given in the hospitality of their ships when 

 engaged in commercial fishing. .\t the present time 

 the_ Fisheries Department has fourteen fish measurers 

 in its service, the majority of whom are working, by 

 the courtesy of owners and skippers, on commercial 

 fishing vessels. They take and measure all the fish 

 in a definite number of hauls per dav, with a view 

 to the correlation of age, length, weight, and maturity, 

 and with regard to the variations which occur corre- 

 sponding to the differences in the nature of the 

 bottom, position and season, and, to some extent, 

 time. That work is particularly important now, 

 because as regards at least three of the principal food- 

 fishes we have the results of investigations which 

 took place over a period of three years in the case 

 of each fish before the war, and by the work which 

 is being carried on we shall place ourselves in a 

 position to compare the present condition of the stock 

 of these fish in the sea with that of pre-war days, 

 and thus be able to judge of the effect of the greatest 

 measure of closure which has hitherto taken place. 

 As one of the questions which we shall be bound to 

 answer before long is whether in the interests of the 

 conservation of that stock certain aieas of the sea 

 should be closed by international agreement to all 

 fishing vessels, or to certain types of fishing vessel, 

 permanently, or at certain times and seasons, it 

 behoves us to make use of the great experiment which 

 the war provided. 



(3) Marine investigations on the scale which the 

 preservation of our great fishing interests demands 

 involve the use of deep-sea fishing vessels, which need 

 to be kept in commission continuously throughout the 

 year and from year to year, and they involve also the 

 co-operation and assistance of other Government 

 Departments concerned with shipping and with the 

 sea, especially the Board of Trade and the .Admiralty. 

 TTie last-named Department in particular must of 

 necessity carry out for its own purposes investiga- 

 tions which have a direct bearing upon our work, 

 and, with certain necessary limitations, we can count 

 upon its co-operation with us. 



U) The aim of our investigations, the only justifica- 

 tion for them in the eyes of the .State, which is calling 

 upon the taxpayer to foot the bill, is the necessity of 

 taking all practical steps to promote the development 

 of the fishing industry, which, though the fact is not 

 Cenorally appreciated, undouhlcdlv save<l this country 

 from disaster in the late war. Moreover, the fishing 

 Industry brought into this country invaluable supplies 

 of food ; and even now we must, if we reflect, rerog. 

 nise the fart that fish is relatively cheap romp.Trcd 

 with other food. and. regarded as an import which 

 does not involve nnv corresponding export. It Is 

 nationally by far the cheapest food the nation receives. 



