Holt — Survey of Fishing Grounds^ West Coast of Ireland. 477 



serious loss would be caused to anyone ; and the fact that on this coast, as I have 

 shown elsewhere, almost all the known trawling grounds are within the territorial 

 limits, offers advantages for the trial of such measures which do not exist on other 

 coasts. Again, trawling on the "West Coast is as yet in its infancy, so that practically 

 no vested interests exist to complicate matters. 



Much can probably be done by the fishermen themselves to increase the supply of 

 fish, by artificially fertilizing the eggs of all ripe fish taken, and then throwing them 

 into the sea. This suggestion, which originated, I believe, with the late Professor 

 Baird on the other side of the Atlantic, has received its due share of attention from the 

 Scotch Fishery Board. 



The final resource lies in the artificial rearing of fish. This method has been found 

 extremely successful in reviving the shad fisheries on the coast of the United States, 

 whilst its success in the case of Salmon and of Trout, and certain other fresh water 

 fish, has been established in our own country. The Shad, however, is to some extent 

 an anadromous fish, as it enters the mouths of rivers to deposit its spawn, and thus 

 presents peculiar advantages to the pisciculturist. That artificial rearing is also feasible 

 in the case of purely marine fish, is shown by the measure of success which has attended 

 the experiments carried on in Norway with the Cod. From the researches of Eaffaele, 

 M'Intosh, Cunningham, and others, we know how easy it is to rear the young of 

 almost all food-fishes to a certain stage, even with the limited means at their disposal. 

 But the matter has never been allowed a practical trial in this country. 



Professor M'Intosh has repeatedly urged the desirability of establishing hatching 

 and rearing stations on a scale sufficiently large to test, or rather to establish, and 

 make use of the powers which lie at our disposal for the increase of our fish supply, 

 but so far has met with no response. Recently he appears to incline to the opiaion 

 that expense might be saved by simply fertilizing the eggs of valuable fish upon a 

 large scale, and transferring them to the waters in which it was desired to replenish 

 the supply. Expense is undoubtedly the great obstacle in the way of artificial rearing, 

 but it appears to me that there are places upon the West Coast of Ireland where the 

 natural conditions would be particularly favourable for experiments of this nature. 



