SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 235 



fisheries ? Are there any sea-fisheries which are exhaustible, 

 and if so, are the circumstances of the case such that they can 

 be efficiently protected ? I believe that it may be affirmed 

 with confidence that, in relation to our present mode of fishing, 

 a number of the most important sea-fisheries, such as the cod 

 fishery, the herring fishery, and the mackerel fishery, are in- 

 exhaustible. And I base this conviction on two grounds, first, 

 that the multitude of these fishes is so inconceivably great that 

 the number we catch is relatively insignificant ; and, secondly, 

 that the magnitude of the destructive agencies at work upon 

 them is so prodigious, that the destruction effected by the 

 fisherman cannot sensibly increase the death-rate"..." I believe, 

 then, that the cod fishery, the herring fishery, the pilchard 

 fishery, the mackerel fishery, and probably all the great sea- 

 fisheries, are inexhaustible ; that is to say that nothing we do 

 seriously affects the number of the fish. And any attempt to 

 regulate these fisheries seems consequently, from the nature of 

 the case, to be useless." 



Dr Brown Goode^ again, whose knowledge of the fisheries of 

 the United States was extensive, states that " the conclusions 

 gained by Prof Baird, the head of the American Fisheries Staff, 

 tally exactly with those of Prof Huxley, that the number of 

 any one kind of oceanic fish killed by man is perfectly insignifi- 

 cant when compared with the destruction effected by their 

 natural enemies." He observes of fishes deserting or returning 

 to particular coasts, " their movements are no more to be antici- 

 pated than those of the atmosphere ; and, in many instances, 

 with no intelligible cause, some of the most abundant species, 

 the blue fish, the chub mackerel, the little tunny, the scuppang, 

 and the bonito, have absented themselves for considerable pe- 

 riods of years." The late Mr Spencer Walpole, whose experience 

 in fishery legislation and of fishermen was great, also agreed 

 with Prof. Huxley. He pointed out however, as a caution, "that 

 though the sea-fisheries are inexhaustible, failure, for which it 

 may not be easy to account or possible to explain, may occur in 

 particular years or during long series of years. Examples of 



^ Fisheries of the United States, p. 64. 



