SEA FISHERIES 143 



the North Sea, from the Dogger Bank to the 

 Straits of Dover, together with the English 

 Channel. For many years the Association was 

 actively engaged in the investigation of many 

 complicated problems connected with our food 

 supply from the sea, with especial reference to 

 those questions which were defined at the outset 

 as of particular importance. 



With regard to the work done and the promise 

 it gives, it should be remembered that in June, 

 1902, when the Association undertook the 

 investigation, considerable changes had to be 

 effected in the organisation of its resources in 

 order to carry out the work. A staff had to be 

 got together, a laboratory established, a steamer 

 chartered. There were many difficulties to over- 

 come, assistants had to be trained, methods of 

 research devised, the seamen instructed, but all 

 these troubles have one by one vanished, and 

 at present the whole machinery is working 

 smoothly and efficiently, 



It is needless to dwell upon the importance of 

 extending over a sufficient number of years the 

 kind of investigation which the Marine Biological 

 Association was making. Only so can the effects 

 of secondary causes and exceptional fluctuations 



