NA TURE 



49 



THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1SS3 



THE FISHERIES EXHIBITION 



" Do you know me, my lord? 

 Excellent well ; you are a fishmonger." — Hamlet. 



H^HE exhibition which was opened last Saturday by 

 *■ the Prince of Wales on behalf of Her Majesty the 

 Queen is the latest of a series of such shows of matters 

 relating to fish and fishing apparatus which was initiated 

 by the French at Arcachon, other exhibitions having 

 followed in subsequent years at Amsterdam, at Norwich, 

 at Berlin, and at Edinburgh. Though in this country 

 the accumulated knowledge and experience of scientific 

 zoologists is not made use of either by the Government, 

 or by local authorities, or by private capitalists in order 

 to render our fisheries more productive, or to prevent the 

 total destruction of some branches of them (except in the 

 •case of the salmon fisheries), yet the Fisheries Exhibition 

 will have some interest for scientific men and for the 

 readers of Nature. 



It is true that the present exhibition differs from its 

 continental predecessors in the fact that it is a private 

 undertaking entirely organised by practical men who would 

 disclaim the title of "scientific " for themselves, and who 

 have not largely availed themselves of the services of the 

 professional zoologists of the country in carrying out their 

 enterprise. Nevertheless the exhibition will have a 

 scientific character and importance in consequence of the 

 fact that almost without exception every foreign country 

 which takes part in the exhibition is represented by dis- 

 tinguished zoologists, who have been delegated by the 

 governments of the countries to which they belong, to 

 take charge of and to organise the exhibition of such 

 objects as in their judgment may best serve to illustrate 

 the vast variety of matters of interest and instruction con- 

 nected with their fisheries. From the republican United 

 States of America, from democratic Norway, from Hol- 

 land, from Sweden, and from Italy skilled zoologists have 

 been sent by their respective Governments and are at 

 this moment in London in order both to teach and to 

 learn at the fisheries show. 



It will be interesting to compare the results which these 

 skilled officials and men of science can produce with 

 those offered by the crowd of independent English exhi- 

 bitors, manufacturers, fishery owners, fishmongers, and 

 naturalists. Hitherto in the great fishery exhibitions 

 England has been represented at a great disadvantage, 

 for although the Governmental departments of fisheries 

 control and inspection of foreign states have cordially 

 responded to the invitation sent by the committee of the 

 present London exhibition, yet on no occasion has the 

 English Government assisted to place before the public 

 in other countries any of the methods or products of 

 English fishing. On the present occasion, though as 

 hitherto the English Government has no official machinery 

 for representing or dealing with British fisheries gene- 

 rally, and practically takes no part in the affair, yet in 

 consequence of the activity of the large committee of 

 gentlemen who have organised the exhibition, we shall no 

 doubt see a much fuller representation of British fishing 

 enterprise than at any former exhibition. 

 Vol. xxviii.— No. 707 



It is too soon at this moment, when many cases of 

 objects are still unopened and sufficient time for a careful 

 inspection of the exhibits has not elapsed, to offer any 

 detailed remarks on the teaching to be derived from the 

 fisheries show. On Saturday the special exhibit, which 

 cannot be retained permanently during the whole 

 period for which the show is open, was that of the 

 fisherfolk themselves. Amongst the men the East Anglian 

 herring fishers of Yarmouth and Lowestoft carried off the 

 palm by their fine physique, intelligent faces, and sturdy 

 bearing, wonderfully like to their brother Norsemen from 

 the other side of the North Sea. These and the bright 

 fearless faces of the Newhaven fisher-girls as they sat 

 side by side with the strangely capped women fron 

 Boulogne and from the Dutch and Belgian coast, who 

 good naturedly took part in the ceremony of Saturday 

 last, were sufficient to demonstrate that whether British 

 fisheries need or do not need to be improved and deve- 

 loped by that scientific supervision which is applied to the 

 harvest of the sea on foreign shores, the race of men and 

 women occupied in carrying on those fisheries bring to 

 their business the fullest measure of intelligence and 

 physical capacity. It is due to the courage, skill, and 

 vigour of these fisherfolk that British fisheries continue 1 1 

 flourish, though their enterprise is unaided by the scien-e 

 of a Government department and their market is sys- 

 tematically injured by the devices of "middle-men." 



Possibly the London Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 may 

 have a result in regard to the British interests there 

 represented similar to that which the Great Exhibition of 

 1 85 1 effected in regard to the various art manufactures of 

 the country. Just as the public demonstration of British 

 inferiority in the matter of artistic workmanship led to 

 the action of the Government in promoting a remedy in 

 the foundation of schools of art and design, so the extra- 

 ordinary contrast afforded by the British and Foreign exhi- 

 bits on the present occasion in all that relates to a reason- 

 able use of accurate knowledge (otherwise called science) 

 in dealing with fish, oysters, lobsters, &c, may lead to an 

 effort on the part of the constituted authority to imitate 

 in some way the action of foreign governments (whether 

 popular or paternal) in retaining the services of competent 

 zoologists for the purpose of continually acquiring new 

 knowledge in regard to fishes, and in particular of 

 devising new ways of increasing and protecting the 

 annual yield of fishes in the market. 



It is a remarkable fact that for the purpose of dealing 

 with questions and effecting practical objects connected 

 with the economic aspects of the vegetable kingdom, the 

 British Government supports the most efficiently orga- 

 nised botanical institution in the world. The Royal 

 Gardens at Kew are the source of a ceaseless stream of 

 scientific information and advice which is poured by 

 every mail into all parts of the globe where our colonies 

 extend, and it may be truly said that the pecuniary value 

 of the scientific knowledge to British commercial enter- 

 prise, which has thus been furnished, is gigantic. 



It does not admit of any question, that a parallel, 

 though not in the first instance so vast a service, might be 

 rendered to British industrial and commercial interests by a 

 governmental zoological institution, to the scientific staff of 

 which might be intrusted for study and control, not only 

 matters relating to the sea- and river-fisheries of these 



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