438 NATIONAL VALUE OF FISHERIES. 



one merely, to which considerable additions may rea- 

 sonably be expected. 



Then, as regards the question as to the depths to- 

 which fish are supposed to descend into the ocean, it 

 may be stated that the most recent investigations leads 

 those who have given this subject their special atten- 

 tion to believe that " there is no depth limit to animal 

 life in the ocean." * This subject however, as well as 

 other scientific data of interest concerning the inhab- 

 itants of the mighty deep, has received special 

 attention elsewhere in this work, and it would, we 

 think, be inconvenient to overload the section on 

 fishing with a mass of technical details of this descrip- 

 tion. Nevertheless the question of our sea fisheries 

 and other collateral subjects of the same kind are of 

 supreme importance to a naval nation like Great Britain,, 

 a Colossus whose feet are planted in the ocean, and 

 on whose command of the seas her national existence 

 may be said to depend. Great wars have been fought,, 

 for instance, to maintain or dispute the right of a 

 " several fishery" (in legal parlance) on important fishing 

 grounds, and the same questions may again, in future 

 years, assume the position of a " casus belli." 



We shall now endeavour to sketch as briefly as pos- 

 sible the principal points which must be attended to 

 by all who expect to become successful as sea fishermen. 



Whenever circumstances admit of it, it is of course 

 always most desirable to go to work under the guidance 

 of some reliable old hand, chosen from among the 

 local fishermen who know the coast thoroughly. If 

 that be impracticable, the first thing to do is to obtain 



* See the Introduction to the Report on the Scientific Results of 

 the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger, Vol. i., p. 48. 



