MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



were not caught they would remain in the sea. The problem 

 that has to be solved appears to be a different one ; it is, how 

 can we maintain the total annual yield of the sea fisheries ? It 

 is a very simple remedy for the diminished yield of the fisheries 

 to leave off fishing, and one not likely to be adopted while a 

 margin of profit remains. The question is whether by certain 

 particular restrictions the general supply can be increased, or at 

 least prevented from diminishing, and this question was not at 

 that time answered by the Scottish Board. It must on the 

 other hand be admitted that the Board had some reason on its 

 side in considering the question of trawling in relation to terri- 

 torial and inshore waters, and how it affected the fishing which 

 previously went on at scattered villages along the coast. 



Perhaps the most important results of the operations of the 

 Garland were the information subsequently obtained from her 

 operations under Dr. Wemyss Fulton's guidance with regard to 

 the life-histories of valuable fishes. The shorter papers included 

 in the Sixth Report are of no striking importance ; but one 

 tracing the colour of " red cod " — -i.e. the discoloration of dried 

 cod-fish — to microbes, deserves mention. 



The work of the Scottish Fishery Board in 1888, described 

 in the Seventh Report, 1889, consisted, firstly, of a continuation 

 of the laborious observations on the condition of the inshore 

 fishing grounds, where trawling was prohibited ; some observa- 

 tions on the " spawning grounds " of plaice and other fishes ; 

 systematic inquiries into the distribution and capture of imma- 

 ture fish ; an examination of the trawling grounds to the w^est of 

 the Hebrides, and certain special inquiries. In this year and 

 the preceding, the scientific work was under the control of a 

 Committee of the Board ; and Dr. Wemyss Fulton, who began 

 to work for this Committee in 1887, acted in 1888 as secretary 

 to the Committee, and was entrusted with the organisation of 

 much of the fishery research with very satisfactory result. 



The fully equipped operations of the Marine Biological 

 Association at the Plymouth Laboratory commenced in June, 

 1888 ; the staff consisting only of the Director of the Labora- 

 tory, G. C. Bourne, Esq., Fellow of New College, Oxford ; his 

 assistant, W. Garstang, Esq., B.A. ; and the present writer. It 

 should be clearly pointed out that the declared object of the 

 founders of the Marine Biological Association was "to promote 



