THE TRAWLING COMMISSION 33 



initiated by the report of the Commission of 

 1863, and the beginning of modern legislative 

 restriction. 



The Commissioners were Lord Dalhousie, Mr 

 Edward Marjoribanks (afterwards Lord Tweed- 

 mouth), Professor Huxley, Mr (afterwards Sir) 

 T. F. Brady, and Mr W. S. Caine. Professor 

 Huxley, however, was prevented by illness from 

 taking part in the preparation of the report, and 

 did not sign it. They began their inquiry in 

 1883, and the report was presented to Parliament 

 in 1885. They made a departure in method by 

 securing the services of Professor W. C. M'Intosh, 

 who made a series of observations on the effects 

 of trawling on board Scottish and English steam 

 trawling vessels, and whose report, published as 

 an appendix to the report of the Commissioners, 

 is still a document of some interest. The inquiry 

 was thus, to a certain extent, scientific in character, 

 and from the frequent allusions made to Professor 

 M'Intosh's report, there seems little doubt that 

 the Commissioners were strongly influenced by 

 his results and opinions. 



Much knowledge had been gained, during the 

 interval between 1866 and 1885, of the nature 

 of fish spawn and of the spawning habits of fishes. 

 The Commissioners of 1863 had, indeed, come to 

 a perfectly sound conclusion as to the effect of 

 trawling on fish spawn ; but, though it was easy 

 to show that the organisms brought up by the 



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