FISHERY AND SCIENCE 157 



In France the technical service of the fisheries was 

 instituted and organised by the decrees of May 24, 1862, 

 and May 17, 1887. The Inspector-General of Maritime 

 Fisheries is directly responsible to the Under-Secretary 

 of State for the Marine. He is entrusted, by the terms of 

 the decree of October 19, 1909, with the inspection 

 of schools of fishery, with the study and popularisation 

 of questions of science as applied to fishery, and with 

 the supervision of fishery establishments from the 

 hygienic point of view. He directs the " scientific 

 service of the maritime fisheries." This service includes 

 several naturalists appointed to the coast laboratories (at 

 Boulogne, Roscoff, Concarneau, Baynuls-sur-Mer), who 

 carry on research work dealing with the biology of fish, 

 with plankton, and with the local methods of fishery. 



The practical result of the Christiania programme and 

 of inquiries of this kind in general will be the preparation 

 of fishery charts, like those issued from the Scotch 

 port of Aberdeen. To be effectual such charts must be 

 the common work of scientists and of men acquainted 

 with the technique of fishery. We shall find an example 

 in the North. Norway has fishery experts in permanent 

 residence abroad. The French experts and here I agree 

 with M. Canu should be entrusted with frequent and 

 important commissions : should draw up reports, in con- 

 junction with our scientists, which would be rapidly 

 printed and distributed, dealing with the oceanography 

 of various seas and the practical conditions of various 

 fisheries, the best methods of wholesale capture, and 

 the best seasons, &c. If the shipowners of the north 

 coast of France had such information to hand they 

 would be able to resume the lucrative cod fishery on 

 the Dogger, which has never been abandoned by the 

 English. They would be able, like the English, to take 



