FISHERY AND SCIENCE 159 



our fishermen knew how to read them ! It is certainly 

 true that in many cases their ignorance is only equalled 

 by their disregard of danger. We have seen master- 

 fishers engaged in the tunny fishery who have deliberately 

 gone to sea with no other instrument than an ill- 

 regulated compass ; who, when the time has come to 

 make the land once more, turn their bows to the 

 east without more ado, so that they often make Point 

 Ortegal or Vigo Bay instead of Ushant or Penmarck ! 

 Courage and endurance are noble virtues, of the 

 greatest value in moments of crisis, but in everyday 

 life a little knowledge is of great utility. The Schools 

 of Fishery scattered along our coasts and the "Society 

 for Professional and Technical Instruction in Maritime 

 Fishery " have undertaken the duty of educating our 

 fishermen. 



One of the earliest schools was that of M. Victor 

 Guillard in the He de Groix. For a long time these 

 schools were isolated. It was only last year that the 

 Under-Secretary for the Marine, by granting them an 

 official charter, co-ordinated their efforts. The schools 

 of fishery are organised by the State, the departments, the 

 communes, or by the initiative of private societies or 

 individuals. They may be subsidised by the Govern- 

 ment, on the condition that they submit their curriculum 

 and the appointment of their staff to the control and 

 approval of the Minister of the Marine. The courses of 

 instruction deal with the elements of navigation (land- 

 marks, alignments, lighthouses, buoys, beacons, sea- 

 marks, reading charts, latitude and longitude), with the 

 various fishing-grounds and the fish frequenting them, 

 currents, steam-engines and motors, and hygiene on ship- 

 board, &c. An additional subject should be an explana- 

 tion of the methods employed in foreign fisheries. A 



