April 27, 1899] 



NA TURE 



603 



•advantage in Lancashire. A Fishery Board or Committee 

 carrying on scientific and experimental work ought to 

 have a vessel that can go to sea and stay at sea in all 

 ordinary weathers, and that can follow the fishing fleets 

 and work with them on equal terms. That is not 

 possible for either the Garland or the John Fell. 



Chapters are devoted to the trawling experiments in 

 St. Andrews Bay, in the Firth of Forth, in the Moray 

 Firth, and in the Firth of Clyde ; and in each case 

 it is argued that the closure has effected no change, 

 that there has been no great increase in the fish 

 population, and that, on the other hand, there has not 

 been that decrease which the Board have recently made 

 a reason for wishing to obtain control of the fishing on the 

 offshore spawning grounds. But it seems pretty clear, 

 from the detailed analysis given of the statistics, that 

 the observations are not really sufficiently numerous and 

 sufficiently trustworthy to justify any general con- 

 clusions. We are constantly reminded of the smallness 

 of the steamer and the inefficiency of her trawl.' Prof 

 M'Intosh himself evidently distrusts the results, and 

 speaks more than once of the " uncertainty." The ob- 

 servations, moreover, were not always taken in the same 

 months, and so certain series of the statistics cannot 

 fairly be compared. It is curious that the results ob- 

 tained from the " closed " and the " open " areas have not 

 been treated quite separately in the tables. Surely in a 

 discussion of the effects of closure it would have been 

 safer to have rigidly excluded the statistics not obtained 

 wholly from closed grounds. 



Nor is it quite clear to us that Prof. M'Intosh is con- 

 vinced by the evidence he brings as to the abundance of 

 fish in our seas. Here again one ought to clearly dis- 

 tinguish between the more oceanic and active fishes 

 such as the herring and haddock, which come and go 

 and are largely beyond man's control, and the more local 

 and sedentary forms, such as most of the valuable flat- 

 fish. In regard to the latter, much evidence has been given 

 from time to time in regard to different parts of our coast, 

 showing the depletion of certain areas. It is curious, 

 in this connection, that Prof. M'Intosh, while quoting 

 freely from the work of the Trawling Commission of 18S3 

 and of the earlier Commission of 1878,- makes no allusion 

 to the evidence given before the much more recent 

 Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1893, 

 the statements in Mr. Calderwood's paper on " British 

 Sea-Fisheries, &c." (1894), and other recent works. It 

 is doubtful whether the older opinions are of much value 

 now under the new conditions. The fishing methods 

 have been so entirely changed with the introduction of 

 powerful steamers and otter-trawls, and the area fished 

 has been so enormously extended during the last few 

 years, that no argument can safely be drawn as to the 

 fish population of our own coastal waters from the supply 

 landed for the markets. 



In the discussion of statistics like these so much 

 depends upon the grouping of the figures, and upon the 

 comparisons made, that I for one should not be at all 

 surprised if Dr. Wemyss Fulton, the scientific secretary 



. 1 This inii5t not be regarded as any reflection upon the scientific work of 

 the Scottish Fishery Board, or upon much other useful work accomplished 

 by Dr. Fulton and the staff on board the Garlattd. 



2 By «be way, why is "the late Mr. Spencer Walpole" (sic) not referred 

 to under his present title of Sir Spencer Walpole, K.C. B. ? 



NO. 1539, VOL. 59] 



of the Fishery Board, succeeded from the same series of 

 figures in establishing what we may take to be his main 

 contention that, as a result of the closure there has been 

 a diminution of plaice and lemon soles, and a marked 

 increase of common and long rough dabs, in the closed 

 areas. We are afraid, however, that the statistics col- 

 lected so far are insufficient, and that it is premature as 

 yet to draw any conclusions. And that is the reason 

 why some of us think it important that the Fishery 

 Board's experimental work should not be stopped at this 

 stage. Although ten or even fifteen years may have been 

 spent — and much money — still if reasonable doubt re- 

 mains, if it seems that more extended experiments might 

 give other and more definite results, surely this is not 

 the time to reverse the policy and stop the accumulation 

 of statistics. 



We have reason to think, moreover, from information 

 obtained outside the official reports, that in the Clyde 

 at least the closure is resulting in an increase of the 

 flat-fish on the ground. In the spring of 1S87, as the 

 result of their trawling experiments, the Board stated 

 that "the flat-fish in the Clyde are only about half 

 as numerous as in the Forth at the same period of 

 the year," and they considered this as evidence of 

 depletion. In the spring of 1898, after the decade ot 

 protection, the Lancashire Fisheries' steamer Johti Fell, 

 trawling during three days for scientific purposes, by 

 special permission of the Board, found what the ex- 

 perienced fishermen on the ship, accustomed to the fishing 

 grounds of the Irish Sea, considered to be rich accumu- 

 lations of flat-fish, including many true soles (Solea 

 vulgaris). The very fact that poaching goes on is 

 sufficient to show that the fishermen regard the closed 

 areas as desirable trawling ground with an abundant 

 fish population. 



Well, there are the two policies : the one to preserve 

 these fish sanctuaries by means of restrictions which 

 cause constant friction, and which we would all prefer 

 to see removed ; and the other to add more or less 

 artificially to the population of the sea by hatching, or 

 by returning fertilised spawn to the water. The Board 

 is at present pursuing both policies, and it may be that 

 both are necessary. 



As the book before us is mainly directed against 

 restrictive measures, we are glad to see at the end of it, 

 in the " Summary," some words as to the natural alter- 

 native, " productive " measures ; and we can cordially 

 agree with the remarks on p. 231, in regard to hatch- 

 ing. Some years ago (December 1S94), Prof. M'Intosh 

 wrote an interesting article on the subject in Science 

 Progress; a few months ago, in a letter to the present 

 writer, he said, in regard to sea-fish hatcheries : 



" Of course such institutions are strictly experimental, 

 and it may be some time before a decisive result is 

 evident. Meanwhile, work them thoroughly and support 

 them liberally." 



This is what the Fishery Board are doing at Dunbar 

 and at Aberdeen, and what we in Lancashire are now 

 doing at the Piel hatchery. At the conclusion of the 

 present book Prof. M'^Intosh repeats his former state- 

 ments, and urges that support should be given to such 

 experiments " till the issue is clear." 



