March 5, 1903 J 



NA TURE 



4i7 



natural selection in preserving nations. Our gaze is too 

 intently fixed on the individual struggle, and we are more 

 ready to revert to old abstract notions of inner springs and 

 guides, set for some noble and unknowable purpose, than 

 to develop the one fruitful idea of progress by the natural 

 and predictable interaction of parts. Arthur Ebbels. 



February 16. 



I 



THE ORGANISATION OF FISHERY 

 RESEARCH. 1 



IN August, 1901, a committee, since known as the 

 Committee on Ichthyological Research, was ap- 

 pointed by the Board of Trade in order " to inquire 

 and report as to the best means by which the State or 

 local authorities can assist scientific research as ap- 

 plied to problems affecting- the fisheries of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, and in particular whether the object in 

 view would best be attained by the creation of one 

 central body or department acting for England, Scot- 

 land, -and Ireland, or bv means of separate departments 

 or agencies in each of the three countries. " Tin- report 

 of this committee, together with the minutes of evidence 

 laid before it, has now been published. 



The appointment of a committee of inquiry by 

 Government is, I am afraid, generally regarded as 

 having the effect of postponing, or even avoiding, any 

 effective action on their part. In the present case, how- 

 ever, w'e have the somewhat exceptional situation of 

 real action being taken whilst the inquiry was still in 

 progress, and that action in a direction which is, to 

 some extent, at variance with the course eventually 

 rt-commended by the committee. For whilst the Ichthyo- 

 logical Committee were still engaged in hearing the 

 evidence of experts of various degrees of authority, and' 

 by all the subtleties of cross-examination causing them 

 to commit themselves — as is plainly indicated in the 

 evidence of most of the witnesses — to statements which, 

 after a little reflection and in more collected and rational 

 moments they would rather have expressed differently, 

 the Government decided to take part in the scheme of 

 international investigations which was receiving 

 somewhat rough treatment at the hands of the com- 

 mittee, and persuaded Parliament to vote considerable 

 sums of money for that purpose. The Government 

 are to be congratulated upon having taken definite 

 practical action, even though a minor result of that 

 action has been to cause the report of their Ichthyo- 

 logical Committee to be brought, as it were, with but 

 enfeebled vitality into the world. 



The question referred to the committee was, never- 

 theless, one of considerable importance, and their 

 answer to it — if not of immediate moment — will pro- 

 bably be not without influence in the future. In a 

 general way, the question how the State or local author- 

 ities can best assist scientific research as applied to 

 fisheries is quite simply answered by saying that they 

 can do so by supplying the most capable and trust- 

 worthy scientific men whose services they can obtain 

 with the necessary funds to carry out such research. 

 The only real difficulty is to find some scheme of or- 

 ganisation which will ensure that the men employed 

 are both naturally and by experience and training the 

 best fitted for the work, that thorough, accurate and 

 really scientific workers are distinguished from such 

 as are ostentatious and superficial, and that those fail- 

 ing to maintain their efficiency, or to carry out the 

 work assigned to them, are speedilv eliminated. 



Two other matters of importance are, however, in- 

 volved in the terms of reference of the committee. 

 In the first place, what should be the exact relations 



J Report of the Committee on Ichthyological Research. (London: Eyre 

 and Spottiswoode, 1902.) Price 4s. id. 



existing between the men charged with carrying out 

 scientific research and those whose duties are con- 

 nected with fishery administration ; and, in the second 

 place, to what extent is it advantageous that the re- 

 searches carried on in different parts of the United 

 Kingdom should be placed under one central control. 



On the subject of the relations of the administrative 

 and scientific departments, the committee express a 

 quite clear and definite view. They are of opinion 

 that the responsibility for and the control of the scien- 

 tific investigations should be in the hands of the 

 central administrative authority, and that the most im- 

 portant of the researches should be directly carried out 

 by this authority. In suggesting a new arrangement 

 for England, they, however, propose the establishment 

 of a central council, composed, in approximately equal 

 numbers, of administrative and scientific men, whose 

 duty it should be to advise the administrative authority 

 (Board of Trade) on all matters concerning scientific 

 research. No provision is suggested by means of 

 which this council could enforce its decisions. 



In mv opinion, it is open to the gravest doubt whether 

 such a direct control of scientific work by an administra- 

 tive body is likely to lead to satisfactory results. The 

 trustworthy information and assistance required by the 

 administrative body are, I feel sure, much more likely to 

 be obtained from a more independent scientific authority 

 acting as advisers to the administrators, an authority the 

 preponderating influence of which is in the hands of 

 recognised men of science. Such an arrangement will 

 render the selection of capable naturalists far more 

 probable, and will ensure the naturalists being in a 

 position to give that complete concentration of their 

 whole energies upon the problem in hand which is so 

 absolutely essential to successful scientific work. The 

 claims of administration are immediate and pressing, 

 and when they are combined with the claims of scien- 

 tific research, experience has repeatedly shown that the 

 latter are bound, sooner or later, to take a secondary 

 place. Huxley's experiences as an inspector of 

 fisheries are a sufficient illustration of this point. 



The objection urged by the opponents of the view 

 here advocated is that the method is less likely to lead 

 to immediate practical results. Unfortunately, there 

 is no short and easy road to results which are sound 

 and scientific, and the adage " More hurry, less speed " 

 is, I fear, more than usually applicable to work of this 

 kind. 



On the second question — a question to which the at- 

 tention of the committee was particularly directed — 

 namely, to what extent there should be central control 

 of the investigations throughout the United Kingdom, 

 the committee also make a definite recommendation. 

 Recognising the fact that separate administrative 

 authorities are already established in England, Scot- 

 land, and Ireland, and in view of their opinion that 

 the scientific investigations should be controlled bv the 

 administrative authority, the committee consider that 

 the researches in the three portions of the kingdom are 

 best kept separate. In order, however, to secure some 

 measure of uniformity of action amongst the three 

 bodies, they propose the establishment of a quarterly 

 conference of experts representing the English, Scot- 

 tish, and Irish departments. But there seems little 

 likelihood that such a conference, which, as in the case 

 of the English council, it is not proposed to endow 

 either with authority to enforce its decisions or with 

 any power of action of its own, would be an instrument 

 of much effective value. The scheme is in part the 

 result of a desire, with which I entirely sympathise, 

 to ensure to the workers the maximum of freedom and 

 individual initiative, combined with such centralisation 

 as shall prevent undue or unnecessary waste of energy. 

 But would not these objects be attained more effectually 



NO. I740, VOL. 67] 



