72 



and to such improvements for their development as a 

 nautical experience of twelve years in the Navy suggests. 



Now the treatment of the subject from the point of 

 view I have indicated, necessitates a reference to statistics. 

 I regret to say that the only reliable figures I can find are 

 those relating to the Scotch Herring Fisheries, compiled by 

 the Fishery Board for Scotland, and I may here remark 

 that I think it is a matter of very great regret that no 

 attention has hitherto been paid to the recommendation of 

 the Sea Fisheries Commission of 1 866, who say, " We think 

 it a matter of great importance that Fishery statistics 

 should be systematically collected. It is only by such 

 means that the constant recurrence of the panics to which 

 the Sea Fishery interests have hitherto been subjected can 

 be prevented, and that any trustworthy conclusion can be 

 arrived at regarding the effects of the modes of fishing 

 which are in use. It is probable that the existing Coast 

 Guard or Customs organisation may be utilised to collect 

 statistics, as is now to some extent the case in Ireland." 



The necessity for fuller information than we possess 

 concerning our Sea Fisheries must, I feel sure, be im- 

 pressed on us by the able and interesting paper read on 

 Tuesday by Professor Brown Goode, as the result of the 

 application of improved modes of capture and transit of 

 fish in the United States could not have been established 

 without the elaborate statistics he was able to put before 

 us. 



My general observations may be taken as applying to 

 the Herring Fisheries of the United Kingdom, but for the 

 reason I have mentioned they are made with particular 

 reference to what is undoubtedly our most important Herring 

 Fisheries, viz., those of Scotland. 



Dealing, in the first instance, with the progress of the 



