FISHERIES 



markets within reach wore ho f<!w. All this li.ii hccn com- 

 jiiuiul) i'lmMi;u'l, mill tliu iiiuiii ugoiit in tlie work has buiii 

 tiio i^ri'iit e)Cteii»iun nf ruilwiiyo tiirmiglioiit tlio length and 

 Vroitli iif 1I113 land. Next to niilvMiys us a inciin.s of fiicill- 

 titi'14 ih'- ti.inflit of iLsli to all the iiiarketa, tlio use of ice 

 fur pativitig tlio ti>li li:is become of great imimrtance, so 

 uni'li 140 m iiicl tliiit witliiHit ha eni[)loymtjnt it would bo 

 ii i|' issililo to cany on the North Sea trawl fishery during 

 Kurnuiur ut the distance from land at whiuh it is generally 

 worked, and where some of the most i)roductive grounds 

 are situated. Its special importance in this fishery will bo 

 further noticed when we speak of the general system of 

 beam-trawling ; but we may here mention that without tho 

 use of ice a large proportion of tho fish now sent long dis- 

 tances by railway would never reach their destiniition in a 

 condition fit for the table. The idea of using ice in con- 

 nexion with the fish trade was first put into a practicable 

 shape by Mr Samuel Hewett. At tho present time about 

 30,000 tons of ice are iniportnd animally from Norway 

 into H'lll, which is only one of tlio large North Sea trawling 

 stitioiis, fill- the sole ))urpose of preserving fish, either on 

 boifd the fi-liing smacks or during its transit to market, 

 With the exception of herrings, piichartls, and .sprats, a 

 l.irge pr()|)ortion of the fi.sli now caught on the English 

 coast is put into ice almost as soon as taken out of the 

 water. Much of it is at once so packed on board the 

 trawler-; ; it is brought on sliore Bometinies after several 

 diiys, and sold in tho wholesale markets ; it is then re- 

 p icked in ice and forwarded to other markets, where it is 

 puicliiised by the fishmongers, who have a stock of ice at 

 home vei.'dy to receive it ; and there it remains, if properly 

 taken ctre of, till wanted, suffiuienl only to make an 

 attractive display being laid out at (me time for sale. 



The question of how long our present large supply of sea 

 fish is likely to continue is 0110 of much interest, and the 

 answer to it depends on whether or not our fisheries are 

 carried on in such a manner as to cause more destruction 

 of fish life thun can be compensated far by the vast repro- 

 ductive p')wers of those fishes which escape the nets and 

 hooks of the fishennen. For more than fifty years past the 

 cry has been periodically r lised that our fisheries are being 

 ruined. The general complaint has been of the wasteful 

 destruction of spawn and very young fish by beam-trawling 

 .n'?d sean nets; and 1,1 1863 the outciy was so loud that a 

 Hoya! Oommission was appointed, not only to examine this 

 qu'istion, but also to inquire into the general condition of 

 all our sea fisheries, — the special objects of inquiry being the 

 Btate of the supply of fish, and the questions whether the 

 methods of fishing ia use involved a wasteful destruction of 

 fish or spawn, and whether existing fishery restrictions 

 operited injuriously on tho fisheries. On these points the 

 Commissioners, after taking evidence all round tiie British 

 Islands, were enabled to give a very decided opinion. 

 They reported that the supply of fish generally had largely 

 incre ised, that the methods of fishing involved no waste of 

 young fish that could be prevented without interfering 

 with the general fifdieries, that spawn was not destroyed 

 by the nets, and that all fishery restrictions should be 

 removed except such as were desirable for protecting and 

 keeping order among the fishermen. The recommenda- 

 tions of the commissioners were embodied in an Act of 

 Parliament known as The Sea Fisheries Act 1868, by 

 which, with one or two small exce[)tion8 relating to herring 

 fishing on the west noaat of Scotland, previous Fishery Acts 

 were repealed, and fresh regulationsmade having reference to 

 the registriiion of fishing boats, keeping order among drift- 

 fishermen and beam-trawlers, and providing a close time 

 lor oysters in the English Channel. The main object of 

 iliB Act was to carry out a convention between the British 

 lakuda tiud Frauce, for the better ordering of the fiaherios 



in tho sens adjoining the two countrios. Tlic Art onme 

 into force in England on tho Ist of Fcbruaiy liSOl), but tir- 

 cumstances have hitherto prevented any date biiiiig fixed 

 for carrying o\it the convention on the part of the French. 

 Great advantage has undoubtedly been gained by Briti.sli 

 fishermen from tho substitution of the ]ii'csuiit siinplo lishtTy 

 regulations for the numerous Acts previously exisiing, many 

 of which had long been obsolete ; but tho iioyal Com- 

 mission, which was issued virtually to inquire into the 

 alleged destruction of fish spawn on tho ground by beam- 

 trawlers, would probably have never come into existence 

 had tho facts then been known which have since come to 

 light about the spawning habits of most of our edible fishes. 

 These facta are so important that a short notice of them 

 may be given here. 



Fishermen are in tho habit of asserting with perfect 

 confidence that fishes of aliffost every kind they are accus- 

 tomed to catch have certain grounds which they frequent 

 at particular seasons for tho purpose of depositing their 

 ova. The herring is known to 8|)a\vn on the gioiind, — 

 at all events the spawn is found theiu in irregularly shaped 

 lumps adhering to the bottom. It has therefore been con- 

 cluded that all kinds of fishes have the same habits in this 

 respect. Yet no one has been able to speak positively of 

 having ever seen any fish spawn taken from the ground 

 except that of the herring. Various soft and gelatinous 

 substances are brouglit on shore by the sean nets, and com- 

 monly go by tho name of spawn among the inshoie fi.^hcr- 

 nien ; but that they are not fish spawn is perfectly well 

 known to any one who has given attention to tho variety of 

 curious animal organisms inhabiting the sea. 



It was stated by Profeasore Huxley and Allmnn in 

 1867, before the select committee of the House of (Ji m- 

 nions on the Sea Co.ist Fisheries (Ireland) Bill, as wiihiu 

 their personal knowledge, that fish ova hud been tounl 

 floating at the surface of tho sea, and that the ov,i ihcy 

 had met with were in all ea>t8 alive, ond some of tluni lU 

 an advanced state of develo|)ment. Reference was at Hi; 

 same time made to the observations then recently reeonn d 

 by Norwegian naturalists on tlie spawning h bits of tlu 

 common cod, leading to the belief that spawiimg at tin: 

 S'lrface was by no moans uncommon with our seii fishes. 

 These investigations have bc'en Ry^tematic ally carneii on 

 during the last ten ysars, under the direcl'on ol the S» efli: '1 

 Government, V)y Professor G. O. Sars ot the ulliver^il\^l.i 

 Chrisliania, and have resulted in some uiiex[!ected dis- 

 coveries. The seas in the iieiL;libouihood ot tlu' Lilloili. i 

 Islands on the coast of Norway had long been known to la 

 a great jilace of resort for cod during the spivviiiiig seaM'ii ; 

 and in 1H64 Professor Sars commenced his work thi ri,-, 

 and by means of a small surface towing net ho ol>taiii d 

 plenty of the ova of tho common cod (O'adus vtorr/fiu.) 

 floating at the surface ; examples in various stage's i f 

 d.;velopinfcnt were procured, the young H^h were sue. css- 

 fully hatched out, and the species identified beyouii a 

 doubt. Subsequent observations fully confirmed ti.e 

 accuracy of the conclusions previously arrived at that the 

 cod spawn was not deposited on tho ground biit floated 

 freely at or near the surface. In 1865 the same observa- 

 tions were made on the ova of the haddock (Gadtis 

 ceglefinns), and it was satisfactorily proved that they went 

 through all their stages of developnient while floating at 

 the surface, in precisely tho same manner as in the case of 

 the cod. Sars was at first inclined to believe this di'Vel' p- 

 nient of the ova while floating was peculiar to the members 

 of the Gadidm or cod family, in its restricted sense ; b.t 

 in the summer of 1865 he visileil the southern cuast of 

 Norway during tho season for mackerel, and found abundant 

 evidence of the same rule obtaining in that widely distim b 

 fish. In the case of the mackerel, the spawning actually 



