viii BRITISH FISHERIES 



hand, and to the modern craze for cheapness 

 on the other. The protective systems of the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century had for 

 their object the encouragement of the poorer 

 fishermen. Although these were, to a great 

 extent, done away with by the laissez-faire policy 

 of the middle of the century, they have never 

 entirely been abandoned, and one is glad to 

 observe that the modern tendency is towards 

 their revival. Many restrictions on methods of 

 fishing, such as the practical exclusion of the 

 steam fishing fleet from the territorial waters and 

 bays of our coasts, have a differential effect, and 

 encourage the small fishing boat at the expense 

 of the larger ; and if the maintenance of a 

 numerous and comfortable fishing population is 

 as desirable a thing as the mere supply of cheap 

 food, then restrictive legislation of this nature is 

 to be welcomed. 



" Experimental legislation " has been the rule 

 in the past. That this should have failed is due 

 to obvious causes, and one has to admit that for 

 the mass of obsolete, futile, and injurious fishery 

 laws both the fisherman and the administrator are 

 to blame. The growth of our knowledge of the 

 natural laws which govern the abundance of fish 

 in the sea has been a slow process, and the legis- 

 lators have not been patient enough to wait for a 

 sufficient basis of observation on which to found 

 their restrictions. Fishery authorities have not, as 



