284 BRITISH FISHERIES 



It is perfectly obvious, then, that a great amount 

 of destruction of many kinds of young fishes is 

 involved in ordinary fishing operations as carried 

 on at the present time. The practical questions 

 now arise : Is this capture and destruction wasteful 

 to the general fishing industry ? that is, does it 

 tend to diminish the total quantity of fish landed 

 on the British coasts ? And if it could be avoided 

 by legislative restrictions on methods of fishing, 

 would the total value of all the fisheries increase ? 

 There is yet another consideration which ought 

 not to be lost sight of : would the disturbance of 

 employment caused by this legislation the pro- 

 bable shifting of a great amount of fishing from 

 the inshore to the offshore waters, from fishermen 

 using small boats and possessing little capital to 

 largely capitalised fishing firms and companies 

 not produce social-economic effects which it would 

 be much better to avoid ? 



The destruction of immature fish per se is not 

 necessarily an evil. Sardines are immature fishes 

 which are much more valuable in the form in 

 which they reach the consumer than as adult 

 pilchards, and whitebait are just as much a legiti- 

 mate object of fishing as herrings or sprats. To 

 borrow an illustration from agriculture, we need 

 not give up using lamb or veal because by doing 

 so we destroy immature sheep and cattle, or eggs 

 because thereby we are destroying potential fowls. 

 In these cases, as in the cases of sardines and 



