64 Mr. J. Broivn on the 



lasts for about two months, it makes 12,000 fry every season. 

 Now let us consider that each of these r 2,000 baby herrings 

 would become a mature herring if let alone, and that the average 

 price of herrings on the pier is about £1 per i,coo, we see that 

 the keep of each gull for two months costs the nation ^12. 

 What he costs for the other ten months of the year I leave to the 

 officials of the Marine Laboratory at Larne to investigate. 



In making this estimate, I would point out that in fishing the 

 product of the business does not, as in the making of shirts and 

 shoes, depend solely on the capital and labour expended. It is 

 chiefly dependent on the available fish in the sea, since the 

 expenditure involved is practically the same, whether the night's 

 take be large or small. 



In a paper recently read before the Belfast Natural History and 

 Philosophical Society by Professor Gregg Wilson, the question 

 was asked " Could men over fish the seas ? " and, in reply, the 

 learned author said : — Professor Huxley had been of opinion that 

 this was impossible, and that the damage done by man was 

 infinitesimal compared with what was done by other enemies. It 

 was the last straw that broke the camel's back, and if they put on 

 that last straw it made all the difference, and he thought man 

 could play the part of the last straw." Would it not be better to 

 remove the larger part of the whole load, and let man keep, not 

 only his one straw, but more in addition ? 



Let us consider the amount of the load that might be removed. 

 At a low estimate there might be 100 birds in each play such as I 

 have described, and say 5 plays per mile of coast and taking the 

 coasts of the three kingdoms and adjacent islands, omitting the 

 smaller inlets, as 4,000 miles, we get a total of 2,000,000 birds 

 whose keep for two months in herrings alone would amount to 

 the grand total of ^24,000,000 sterling. When magpies and 

 hawks feed on game in the egg or bird, when rats eat the farmer's 

 corn, or mice the housewife's cheese, they are called vermin 

 and destroyed. But when seabirds devour ^24,000,000 worth of 



