FISHERIES 281 



this is partly due to the steady increase of steam-trawling, which 

 means capture on a wholesale scale. Practical men are recogniz- 

 ing more and more that expert scientific advice must be requisi- 

 tioned if the supply of fish is to be maintained, and still more so 

 if it is to be increased. As Cunningham very justly remarks (in 

 Marketable Marine Fishes] : " It can scarcely be expected that the 

 fisherman or fish merchant will spend his short and hard-earned 

 leisure moments in the study of the blue-books and technical 

 memoirs in which the results of research are described; and when 

 certain newly- established facts are brought before them in other 

 ways it frequently happens that they either deny these facts, as 

 contrary to their own experience, or turn a deaf ear, from the 

 conviction that such matters are of no practical importance. 

 With reference to the contradiction of the naturalist's conclusions, 

 it may be urged that, although he may not be able to climb the 

 rigging of a smack, and is generally sick while at sea, although 

 also he may be as ignorant as a baby of the mysterious and com- 

 plicated practice of the fish-trade, still he has two advantages over 

 the professional fish-man in attempting to get at the truth con- 

 cerning the life and habits of fish. Firstly, he has been trained 

 to appreciate the value of scientific evidence, and is on his guard 

 against jumping at conclusions; secondly, he can use instruments 

 of precision, which are as essential to the investigation of some 

 of the matters in question as the compass and the lead to the 

 handling of a fishing- vessel. With regard to the practical import- 

 ance of the naturalist's researches and results to the fishing 

 industry, it can only be said that there is no doubt about it. It is 

 an undeniable fact that parliamentary legislation and local by-laws 

 are at the present time constantly being demanded or proposed for 

 the benefit of the fisheries, and the reasons by which these pro- 

 posals and demands are supported consist largely of statements 

 concerning the natural history of the fishes and other marine 

 creatures concerned. It is necessary, therefore, that we should 

 be able to test the correctness of these statements, and should be 

 able to judge correctly of the most probable effect of the measures 

 proposed on the productiveness of the fisheries." 



A few epoch-making dates in fishery work may here be 

 appended with advantage, and the reader may draw his own con- 

 clusions as to the relative enterprise displayed by the nations 

 concerned. 1862, Professor Allman of Edinburgh investigated 



