146 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



supply of fish; and, tliirclly, whether the said fisheries are injuriously 

 affected by any legislative restrictions, huinbly submit the folio wing- 

 report of our proceedings to Your Majesty : 



We first proceed to state the results of our inquiries into the matters 

 to which Your Majesty's commission especially directs our attention. 

 And, fifst, whether the supply of fish from the sea-fisheries is increas- 

 ing, stationary, or diminishing. 



Though there has been much confl.icting evidence on this point, we 

 have had no difficult}' in coming to the conclusion that, on the coasts of 

 Great Britain, the supply of fish is increasing, and that it admits of pro- 

 gressive increase. 



It fluctuates according to the locality and the season of the year. In 

 the autumn of 1863 the northeast coast of England yielded a meagre 

 inshore fiishing, while, in the following year, we found on the east coast 

 of Scotland the haddock fishing had been one of the best ever known. 

 And at the time that the inshore fishing was unproductive in 1863, that 

 carried on by the decked vessels farther to sea was yielding an abundant 

 supply. 



The evidence wiiere strongest in favor of a gradual decline in the yield 

 of fish Avas nearly always accompanied by statements showing a pro- 

 gressive increase in the number of men and boats engaged in the tisli- 

 ing. And not only have these numbers uniformly increased, but there 

 has also been an increase in the length of each fishing-line and the num- 

 ber of hooks upon it, in the length and depth of the nets, and in the 

 size and sea-going qualities of the boats. The machinery for fishing 

 has been increased in efficiency, w-hile, in proportion to that efficiency, 

 the cost of working it is actually diminished. There is Itkewise abundant 

 proof of the continued productiveness of the nearest and most frequented 

 fishing-grounds. The principal London salesmen concurred in their 

 testimony to t'hat effect. Not only are the fishing-vessels constantly 

 being increased in number, but the take of each vessel is increasing, 

 and, from the speedier means of transpor!:, the quality of the fish is 

 improving. On the western part of the Dogger bank it is not un- 

 common for a single trawl vessel to take, in a three hours* trawl, from 

 two to three tons' weight of fish ; and a smack-owner mentioned a recent 

 case in which five of his vessels caught 17 tons of fish in one night. 

 Similar testimony is borne to the prolific character of the fishing-banks 

 of Scarborough, Flamborough Head, Grimsby, and the coast of Norfolk. 

 In the English Channel, the famous fishing-ground of Rye Bay, whicli 

 has for a long i^eriod of years been constantly trawled over by both 

 English and French fishermen, was stated to have yielded more fish in 

 1863 than in any previous year. In some of the bays on the south coast 

 signs of over-fishing have been alleged to exist, but in the deep sea the 

 well-known trawling-grounds are constantly fished over with daily re- 

 turning success. 



Tiie second question submitted to us is, whether any of the methods 

 of catching fish in use in the sea-fisheries involves a wasteful destruc- 

 tion of fish and si)aAvn ; and, if so, Avhether it is probable that any legis- 

 lative restriction ui)()n such methods of fishing would result in an in- 

 crease of the supply of fish "? 



Of the many methods of taking sea fish described in the appendix, 

 (No. 1,) very few have escaped complaint from one source or another; 

 and our minutes of evidence would have been far less voluminous had 

 we not considered it our duty to oticourage the complainants to state 

 their views fully, and to sift out, by careful and varied (pu'stioning, the 

 amount of truth contained in their nudtitudinous allegations. 



