INTRODUCTION 3 



fish ultimately escape through the meshes, many of them 

 are damaged in so doing, while many young, flat fish, 

 lying on the sea bottom, are damaged by the foot rope 

 of the net, as it passes over them. Certain fishing 

 grounds, such as the Dogger Bank, were almost 

 depopulated of flat fish in the years just previous to the 

 war. 



Fortunately for the future of the fisheries, the trawl 

 can only be worked on smooth ground, and at depths not 

 exceeding two hundred and fifty fathoms, so that only 

 a small percentage of the actual fishing grounds is affected 

 by it. Also, when a fishing ground shows signs of becom- 

 ing exhausted by over-fishing, it is less frequented by 

 fishermen, owing to the reduced catches that can be 

 obtained, andthjis it tends automatically to recover. 

 Nevertheless, jltis desirable that fishing should be so 

 organized and restrained, that the fertility of the 

 fishing grounds is not imperilled. In the distant 

 future it may become possible to re-stock partially 

 exhausted grounds with young fish, artificially reared 

 in a hatchery. 



Oceanography the study of the ocean and its 

 inhabitants is one of the youngest of sciences. Yet, 

 to an island people such as we are, it should be one of 

 the most important, for it is only by the study of 

 oceanography that we can hope to found a systematic, 

 organized acjuicultur^.j 



The beginning of a simple aquiculture is to be seen in 

 the cultivation of shellfish, such as oysters and mussels, 

 by the inshore fishermen. 



Of recent years, experiments have been carried out by 

 the Fishery Boards of England, Scotland, Germany, and 

 the United States of America, with the object of 

 increasing the productivity of certain fishing grounds by 

 adding large numbers of artificially hatched, young 



