PREFACE 



IN preparing this book I have tried to give such 

 a reasonably short sketch of the present position 

 of sea - fisheries administration and research in 

 the United Kingdom as might be of use to those 

 whose public duties compel them to give some 

 attention to the subject, as well as to the general 

 student of the sea-fisheries of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. It is obvious that, with this aim, 

 certain limitations have had to be kept in mind. 

 Thus, the salmon and fresh-water fisheries and the 

 oyster industry form altogether special subjects, 

 and there is, besides, an extensive literature in 

 existence dealing with the condition of those 

 fisheries. The natural history of the marine 

 economic animals is another subject which is 

 treated very briefly, but there are already several 

 excellent works, such as those of Cunningham and 

 M'Intosh, which give very full accounts of this 

 part of our subject. Finally, much more attention 

 might have been devoted to the consideration of 



the methods of catching sea-fishes practised in 



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