5o6 



AU TURE 



[April 



exact knowledge of all the spawning beds round the 

 coast. The assertions of fishermen would be a guide to 

 the acquisition of this knowledge, but it would require 

 scientific men to ascertain the position and extent of the 

 spawning areas, and properly mark them out on a chart. 

 A large number of matters connected with the fisheries 

 have not yet begun to receive attention even in Scotland. 

 The spawn of the sprat is still entirely unknown. The 

 smelt fisheries have never yet, we believe, been examined, 

 and complaints are made in some places that the number 

 of smelt has been seriously diminished by the capture of 

 the young in tidal bag-nets. Statistics of the smaller 

 fisheries ought to be obtained, as well as of the larger, for 

 in many cases these smaller fisheries could be largely 

 developed by intelligent methods. As we have already 

 said, the collection of these statistics requires zoological 

 knowledge, for the same species often bears several local 

 names, which would be put down by an untrained officer 

 as belonging to as many different kinds of fish. What 

 is wanted is a proper division of labour. It does not 

 recjuire a biologist to draw up statistics concerning boats 

 and crews, or carry on purely administrative work. But 

 a large proportion of the work which a Fishery Board 

 ought to carry out is really scientific work, and can only 

 be done by men of science. 



Sir Edward Birkbeck very properly included among 

 the functions of the proposed authority that of advising 

 legislation when necessary. The public have learnt by 

 several examples how dangerous it is to legislate in 

 fishery matters, apart from the mere introduction of police 

 regulations, without the basis of results established by 

 experiment. In many cases the laws passed have been 

 themselves experiments, but as the conditions under 

 which they were carried out were complicated, and not 

 properly studied, little accurate knowledge has been 

 gained from them. The Scottish Fishery Board is about 

 to try an extensive experiment with regard to beam 

 trawling, prohibiting that method of fishing in certain 

 defined areas. The experiment is worth trying, even at 

 the cost of temporary inconvenience to the fishery indus- 

 try. But in order to render such an experiment fruitful, 

 it would be necessary to make a detailed and exact in- 

 vestigation of the areas selected. It is doubtful whether 

 the organisation of the scientific department of the 

 Scottish Board is yet in a position to make this investi- 

 gation in a sufficiently complete manner. But there can be 

 no doubt that such experiments should be repeatedly made 

 on a sufficiently large scale ; and on their results legislation 

 may be based with some safety. Without them it is 

 better not to legislate at all. No one is at present in a 

 position to say how far artificial propagation can be 

 applied to sea fishes with results economically successful. 

 In America even the extensive resources of the Fish 

 Commission have not yet settled this question. In view 

 of the annually increasing efiiciency in the means of 

 capture of marine fish, it would be certainly wise to lose 

 no time in at least ascertaining by suitable experiments, 

 if it be at all possible to add by human intervention to the 

 supplies of sea fishes provided by unaided nature. The 

 harvest of the sea has been gathered by man for ages ; 

 the time may yet come when it will also be sown by 

 human foresight. 



Moreover, beyond and above the necessity for practical 



scientific work, there is another advantage which in- 

 evitably follows from the association of scientific investi- 

 gation with the work of a Fishery Board. The results 

 include additions to abstract scientific knowledge, and 

 facilitate in many ways purely scientific researches. The 

 extent to which biology especially has been enriched by 

 work primarily intended to develop the fisheries is well 

 known. It is not to the credit of the United Kingdom 

 that this remark applies chiefly to foreign countries. The 

 valuable aid which the Fish Commission renders to bio- 

 logical science in America can scarcely be too highly 

 estimated. The attention which has been paid to the 

 questions concerning the breeding of fishes has advanced 

 our knowledge of teleostean embryology much more 

 rapidly than would have been possible from purely aca- 

 demic work. The scientific public, then, should insist 

 that exact science be represented in the English Fishery 

 Department, by whatever title it may be called. At least 

 one leading official of the department should be a biologist 

 of recognised standing, who could properly organise the 

 scientific inquiries which must necessarily be undertaken. 

 It would be well if at least one other member were a 

 meteorologist or a physicist. It is inevitable that the 

 new department, if it is to be of any use at all, must 

 apply to men of science for counsel and assistance, and 

 this assistance can most efficiently be rendered by men 

 of science who are members of the administrative body. 

 In this way the organising and directing power of one or 

 possibly two scientific authorities should be secured for 

 the department, but, in addition to this, a staff of sub- 

 ordinates trained as scientific naturalists is absolutely 

 necessary to carry on the actual work of inquiry and 

 observation. These officers must be really competent 

 men, or their services will be worse than useless. They 

 should also be pcrinanently employed, and not asked 

 casually to undertake an inquiry. No doubt the de- 

 partment should have the power and the necessary funds 

 to retain the services from time to time of the most highly- 

 skilled men of science to carry on special investigations 

 in connection with questions which arise. But every man 

 of science knows that constant and permanent occupa- 

 tion in a special branch of inquiry, without uncertainty 

 as to pecuniary conditions or undue anxiety to obtain a 

 striking result in a short space of time, is the most favour- 

 able condition for the production of really trustworthy 

 and progressive scientific work. It is on this account 

 that we should urge the formation of a stafi" of perma- 

 nently employed scientific investigators similar to the 

 staft" of the Geological Survey. 



For in truth what that important State enterprise has 

 effected for the economic exploration of the land of the 

 British Islands is 7iiuiaiis mtt/andis xtvy mvich vih^i has 

 to be done for their seas. The parallel may indeed be 

 pushed pretty far. For just as the deeper search for 

 minerals, such as coal and iron — and even water — has 

 now to depend on accurate geological knowledge when 

 the resources of superficial prospecting are played out, so 

 we may come to have to take seriously into account the 

 conditions and place of production of the fish which we 

 complacently content ourselves with hauling up in our 

 nets. The Fishery Department has hitherto been in a 

 tolerably chaotic state. But at any rate it summoned to 

 its aid the most eminent biologist of the day. It would 



