March 23, 1893] 



N A TURK 



49: 



-other food-products of the deep is of paramount import- 

 ance in regulating and bettering the fisheries around our 

 ■coasts. 



' A few years ago the scientific aspects of this industry 

 received but scant attention. Many outcries have indeed 

 been always heard as to injurious methods of fishing, the 

 wilful destruction of fish suitable for food, and the general 

 depletion of certain fisheries, but in spite of Royal Com- 

 missions and Courts of Inquiry, we have been slow to 

 grasp the truth that for want of proper knowledge with 

 which to control our laws and regulations we have been 

 timidly procrastinating, and allowing our chance of ready 

 resuscitation to diminish. We have about 400,000 men 

 dependent on our fisheries, and yet are at the present day 

 lagging behind other and younger countries in our State 

 Aid. In .Scotland the proportion between fishermen and 

 the rest of the population is i in every 76 ; in Ireland i 

 in every 216 ; in England and Wales i in every 612. In 

 a recent report of the B yard of Trade it is also stated 

 that " the sea fisheries of the United Kingdom appear to 

 be of greater value than those of any other country in 

 which fishery records are kept." The value of the fish 

 landed annually in the United Kingdom is about six 

 million pounds, and yet a large proportion of our fisher- 

 men eke out a miserable existence, and see the industry 

 in which they are engaged becoming more and more un- 

 remunerative every year. In Scotland, where most is 

 done for our fisheries, there is a Government Board 

 where appeal can at all times be made by any persons 

 ■desiring alterations in the existing state of circumstances. 

 A Board which not only collects all statistics, but which 

 has power and capabilities to inquire into all methods of 

 fishing, whether from a biological or commercial stand- 

 point, as well as to construct by-laws if necessary. In 

 England the absence of such a body is much felt. Con- 

 ference after conference is held, but although promoted 

 under the most favourable auspices, the resolutions 

 agreed upon can hardly be made to impress the House 

 of Commons, because of this want of a proper channel. 

 It would be quite out of place in an article such as the 

 present to speculate as to the constitution of a Fishery 

 Board for England, but without any doubt it should have 

 not only a representative of biology, but a small staff of 

 investigators. 



The unfortunate antithesis which at present exists 

 between so-called practical people and men of science 

 results largely from the unknown altitude from which the 

 latter choose somewhat exclusively to illuminate the 

 world. Without desiring in any way to discount the 

 pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, it seems apparent 

 that the benefits to be derived for our fisheries are not to be 

 obtained from the lovers of pure science, but rather from 

 those who, having had the proper scientific training, are 

 willing to occupy a position in which they will be 

 intimately acquainted with the requirements of practice 

 as their object, and yet be able to focus the theoretic rays 

 of the specialists on the different sections of their work. 



The history of the various Royal Commissions has 

 thrown considerable light on the particular nature of the 

 information needed. It has also shown how widely the 

 investigations yet to be carried on must extend. 



Take, for example, the old vexed question of beam- 

 trawling in Scotland. Fishermen practising the time- 

 honoured art of long-lineing appeared as witnesses before 

 the Commission of 1883, and being* keenly antagonistic 

 to the trawler, described how this species of robber 

 descended upon their old haunts, scraped and harrowed 

 the bottom to the utter destruction of all spawn and fry, 

 scooped up tons of fish (which should have lived to have 

 been caught by hook and line in the proper manner), and 

 glutted the market with what was quite unfit for human 

 food. 



It is often extremely difficult to separate political 

 interests from fishery reports, but the fact remains that 



NO. 1221, VOL. 47] 



evidence of this kind, being inserted in the public press, 

 led to much misunderstanding, and inclined people to 

 support the line fishermen at the expense of the trawler. 

 But the late Lord Dalhousie, as chairman of the Com- 

 mission, was fortunate in having as one of his colleagues 

 a naturalist who had for many years given special 

 attention to fisheries. The statements, therefore, as to 

 destruction of spawn and young fish were tried and found 

 wanting. The evidence as to the natural history of 

 fishes being most wild and conjectural, though given by 

 men who had spent their lives at sea and were masters of 

 their craft, was met by scientific accuracy and fell to the 

 ground. We find in the official report of the Commission, 

 published in 1886, very decided statements indicating 

 that in the opinion of the Commissioners the injury done 

 by the use of the beam-trawl is insignificant. 



Much information has now been gained as to the eggs 



and embryology of sea fishes, and important observations 



published on such matters ; for instance, as to the pro- 



j portional numbers and sizes of the sexes, and the sizes at 



I which the various food fishes become sexually mature. 



I Observations made on the last-named inquiry show that 



i on different coasts where the conditions of life vary as to 



I temperature, food, or ocean currents, the sizes at which 



any individual members of a species of fish spawn are 



I distinctly dift'erent, and that the rate of growth is 



I different. This is a matter of some importance to those 



I who would prevent capture of fish till after some progeny 



I has been allowed to remain. Fulton's experiments on 



the proportional numbers of the sexes show that out of 



12,666 fish of twenty-one species examined, 3,858 were 



males and 8,808 were females — a ratio of 228 females to 



100 males. 



The flounder and the brill were, however, found to be 



exceptions, while the greatest inequality was found in 



the case of the long rough dab {Hippoglossoides 



liviandoides), where the ratio was 842 females to 100 



i males, or nearly seventeen females to every two males. 



i As regards the proportional size, the observations show 



I that " Among all the flat fishes without exception, the 



female is longer than the male, the ratio varying with the 



species." 



Mr. Holt, who has worked most extensively at the sexual 

 maturation of fishes, in order to determine if possible a 

 method of protecting fishes which have never spawned, 

 discards the male sex altogether, and considers only the 

 sizes of the females, since the males, being both smaller 

 and less numerous, would be more highly protected than 

 the females by any measures drawn up with a view to pro- 

 hibiting the capture or sale of flat fishes under certain 

 sizes. Others who have worked at the same subject 

 pursue the same course. 



These inquiries have been instituted not for their own 

 sakes, but because, from studying the fisheries of the 

 country, it has become obvious that knowledge of this 

 kind is essential. The constant clamour kept up by 

 fishermen who daily see their returns becoming smaller 

 does not reach the ears of those who are busily occupied 

 in commerce, or in science ; it is appreciated only when 

 special attention is paid to the history and present con- 

 dition of some of the most important areas. Take the 

 great industry of the Dogger Banks, which for other 

 I reasons has come before the notice of the public of late 

 I years. In 1828 the North Sea was practically an un- 

 I known fishing region. Boats of no very great size were 

 in that year just beginning operations from Harwich. 

 Before this date trawling was confined to the south coast, 

 having commenced at Brixham about the year 1764. The 

 i Dogger Bank was found to be teeming with fish ; there 

 was plenty for every one, and an almost endless scope for 

 fresh ventures. The "Silver Pits" were discovered in 

 1837, the name being significant of the value to the dis- 

 coverer and his followers. So things went on, more and 

 larger boats were built, heavier gear used, boats banded 



