July 'o, 1919] 



NATURE 



Z77 



generally, thouf^h it is slated that a similar condition 

 exists in the southern North Sea. 



The notions about fishes tending to accumulate 

 about "the meeting of the waters," the spreading of 

 water of low salinity from the Baltic over the North 

 Sea, and the entiance of a little of the Gulf Stream 

 at either end may be interesting, but it is more or 

 less fanciful to say: ' The direct influence of this system 

 of currents on the life of the fishes is immense, for by 

 its means their floating eggs and young are dispersed 

 or disseminated broadcast.' In the south those of the 

 plaice and sole are carried over to their nursery 

 grounds on the flat Danish shore, and in like manner 

 the eggs and fry of the cod are drifted from the 

 western coasts round the north of Scotland, and in 

 part out again to the sea of Norway." Unfortunately 

 for this romance, the eggs and young of the spawning 

 plaice of our eastern shores float, drift, and swim in 

 myriads to the tidal margin there. The eggs and 

 voung of the spawning cod off the Isle of May 

 "follow a similar course, the young appearing in 

 numbers amidst the tangle-forests inshore in June, 

 whilst the eggs and young of the haddock seek the 

 deeper water offshore', the young only appearing in- 

 shore when 5-6 in. in length. -Again, the eggs and 

 young of the sole find another home than that on 

 the Danish shore, and for hundreds of years have 

 swarmed, and swarm now, in the estuary of the 

 Thames and other parts of the southern coasts. .Ml 

 this, and much more, takes place irrespective of the 

 endless text-figures of currents — circling as well as 

 sinuous and straight — and also of endless columns of 

 temperatures and salinities, the production of which 

 has absorbed so large a share of the time and funds 

 of the International Council. 



The day has not yet come for so simple a solution, 

 which, nioreover, does not fit in with the herring 

 either in its larval, post-larval, young, or adult condi- 

 tion. High hopes sprang up in some quarters from 

 the so-called " classical " instance of the herring in 

 the Skagerak and Kattegat, the abundance or scarcitv 

 of which, as well as of the fisheries generally of 

 southern .Sweden, was said to depend on the ebb and 

 flow of a layer of cold salt water ; but these compara- 

 tivelv narrow entrances differ much froni the North 

 Sea, just as the Baltic herring differs from that of the 

 open ocean. These high hopes have not been realised 

 after the sixteen years' labours of the international 

 workers in the North .Sea. Currents, temperatures, 

 alkalinities, and salinities cannot alter the original 

 instincts of a food-fish. 



The western waters of Scotland, again, differ from 

 those of the eastern shores, and the fish-fauna is sup- 

 pos^'d to differ considerably in the two areas; yet 

 herrings frequent both, as likewise does the green 

 cod, whilst the common wrasse represents in the east 

 the swarms of the same group in the western lochs. 

 Both are frequented by the salmon, by the conger, 

 and bv the dog-fishes, and the littoral belts have 

 many fishes in common. 



The sum-total of the labours and heavy expenditure 

 of the hydrographical department up to dat^, and in 

 relation to the task entrusted to the International 

 Council, is verv much as it was in iqo7, but it is only 

 right to state that the several reports from which the 

 Council drew its conclusions all displav the energv 

 and resource of the ob.servers in carrying out their 

 tasks In the North .Sea. The criticism applies to the 

 summary of the Committee. 



From a survey of the whole work of the Inter- 

 national Fisheries investigations, and with the most 

 generous interprf>tation of the labours of the various 

 workers, who have in many cases advanced our 

 general knowledge of the life-histories and distribu- 

 tion of the food-fishes, it cannot be said that thev 

 NO. 2593, VOL. 103] 



have sfltleil the main questions (alrciidy stated) they 

 were apjjointed to solve, viz. : "Whether the quantitv 

 and consunxption of fish taken from the North Sea 

 and neighbourhood are in proper proportion to the pro- 

 duction occurring under the prevailing natural condi- 

 tions, and whether any disproportion between produc- 

 tion and consumption aris(>s from a local over-fishing 

 or from an injudicious employment of the fishing ap- 

 paratus at present in use." They are as uncertain now, 

 notwithstanding all the official explanations, as thev 

 were at the beginning ; whilst during those sixteen year's 

 the views of some have been kaleidoscopic, and ever 

 calling for longer time and for further investigations. 

 It is true that fewer large plaice are caught on an 

 oft-trawled area, as has frequently been pointed out, 

 but the swarms of young which the same records 

 demonstrate are a suiticient guarantee for the future. 

 .\fter these labours to combat the views expressed in 

 i8g8, the Council concludes with but a single recom- 

 mendation, viz. protection of the plaice, as detailed 

 on p. 7. It observes: '"(i) It is very probable that 

 the density of the plaice shoals has decreased in a 

 notable manner, and the absolute size of the plaice- 

 stock thus diminished ; (2) that the diminution of the 

 plaice-stock has not affected all size-classes in an equal 

 degree, but especially the larger and older plaice. 

 This appears in the catches and landings from a 

 relative reduction in the number and weight of the 

 large, and increase in the small, plaice, as well as 

 from a decrease in the average size of the plaice." 



In other words, all that can be said is that plaice 

 are not less numerous, but, according to the methods 

 of the Council, they are smaller — a finding which 

 leaves the plaice in safety. ITie larger plaice frequent 

 the deeper water, where it is less easy to capture 

 them, and that a sufficient number survive to keep 

 up the stock of the smaller plaice the Council freely 

 admits in every case by the mention of swarms of 

 young, even on the oldest fishing areas. Besides, many 

 vears' longer exf>erience of typical plaice grounds on 

 open borders shows that the efforts of man — by net, 

 hook, and trawl — fail to make any serious impression 

 on the multitudes of the younger forms. Similar 

 experience may be found in the older otVicial 

 records, and, further, years of decrease of the plaice- 

 fishing have been followed by years of substantial 

 increase ; so that the steps for what was called " con- 

 certed international action " were arrested. The idea 

 that the North Sea can be fished out is chimerical, 

 for even if it were all gone over thrice or more fre- 

 quently a year, such could not produce depletion or 

 exhaustion of its fisheries — plaice included. liesides, 

 13 per cent, of its area cannot be trawled, and, with 

 the northern and other increments, that is sufficient 

 to maintain its resources. 



For sixteen years the answer to the problems sub- 

 mitted to the International Council has been waited 

 for. and yet it is as far distant as ever; nor doe.n it 

 appear that anvthing more definite will arise from 

 these expensive experiences - -which do not .seem to be 

 even salutary. 



If the able international investigators had, indeed, 

 searched the various areas in the North .Sea them- 

 selves, or if the Council had completed an arrange- 

 ment for the uniform collection of fishery statistics 

 bv all the countries bordering on the North Sea, a 

 great advance would have been made. Further, it 

 mav be asked : What has the Council done " to dis- 

 cover the limit to which fishing grounds can be de- 

 pleted without undergoing .serious injury"; in proving 

 that in a given area the larger form.s are permanently 

 diminished by constant trawling; in discovering 

 whether in such areas the fishes become more wary ; 

 in showing that the shoals are thus driven from a 

 particular ground; in demonstrating the efl'ects of 



