MODERN INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SUBJECT 21 



the application of county or borough councils, to be under the 

 jurisdiction of district committees formed partly by members of 

 the county or borough councils, partly by outside members. 

 The powers of such district committees are larger than any 

 previously exercised by the Board of Trade. They can make 

 bye-laws to regulate the fishing in the territorial waters of their 

 district to any extent they please, and provide for their expenses 

 out of the local rates. Such Sea Fisheries Districts have now 

 been created round nearly the whole coast of England and 

 Wales. 



In August, 1887, the Marine Biological Association issued 

 its first publication, the first number of its journal. This number 

 contained a full description, with plans, of its fine laboratory at 

 Plymouth, and a valuable detailed description of the fishing 

 industry at the port of Plymouth by Mr. Walter Heape. The 

 second number, issued in 1888, contains a paper on some pre- 

 liminary investigations made by myself, on the local fauna and 

 the ova of food-fishes. In this first paper was already solved 

 the mystery of the male sole, and the question of the reproduc- 

 tion of that species, previously unknown. In 1885 it had been 

 stated to the Beam Trawling Commission that no one had ever 

 seen a male sole, that the female soles were caught, but not the 

 males. It was found that the male soles were abundant enough, 

 but had simply not been recognised, and I artificially fertilised 

 soles' eggs for the first time. 



In the Sixth Report of the Scottish Fishery Board, published 

 in 1888, the chief feature is again the statistics of the Garland 

 relating to trawling, and to the abundance of fish in areas where 

 trawling was prohibited. The data are too voluminous to be 

 easily discussed here ; but it is interesting to note that those 

 who directed the observations were beginning to see that some- 

 thing more was required than merely collecting and comparing 

 the totals of the fish captured. It was found that in 1887 more 

 flat-fish were taken in the closed areas than in 1886. But it 

 may reasonably be objected that in these two years the Fishery 

 Board did not fully understand the problem which had to be 

 solved. It prohibited trawling in certain areas, and then made 

 observations to see if the fish increased in these areas. As a 

 result the Scotch Board points out that the number at least of 

 flat-fish was greater. The result in other words was that if fish 



