®Itc Journal of J$lai;ine ^oologg 

 and JJticiifl^oj))) : 



A PLAINLY-WORDED BIOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



VOL. II. NO. 8. DECEMBER, 1897, 



The Possibilities of Fishery Improvement 



in Jersey ; 



With Notes on the Present State of Marine 

 Pisciculture and Fishery Regulation. 4 ' 



BY JAMES HOKNELL 

 f Director of the Jersey Marine Biological Station J. 



1. The continuous decay of inshore fisheries, here and abroad ; the chief causes locally. 



2. Remedial measures pursued elsewhere. 



3. Scope and Programme of the investigations and experiments requisite locally. 



4. Summary of the Fishery Laws having force in Jersey; then' inadequacy to meet 

 present requirements. 



5. Forecast of the probable outcome of an adequate local fishery investigation. 



Part 1. — The continuous decay of inshore fisheries and the chief 



local causes. 

 During recent years, in well-nigh every fishing hamlet in Grreat Britain 

 the plaint of lessened catches in the places where fish formerly abounded 

 has been practically unanimous. The total catches landed on the quays 

 have, however, not decreased ; on the contrary, by the employment of 

 powerful steam trawlers able to fish far from home, by the longer 

 journeys made by sail-trawlers and by the larger liners, and by the 

 invention of improved methods and appliances, the fish supply of Great 

 Britain has materially increased, but an increase entirely obtained from 

 extra-territorial waters. The inshore fishermen, such as we have in 

 Jersey, the men who fish in small undecked boats, have no share in this 

 prosperity ; these men find their own particular grounds rapidly becom- 

 ing depopulated, and, unable to seek the more distant fishing-grounds, 

 are compelled either to seek new occupations or to languish on earnings 

 that are miserably insufficient. Along the French coast a similar evil 

 state of matters exists ; thus, my esteemed friend Dr. Canu, Director of 

 the Station Aquicole at Boulogne, and the foremost authority on piscicul- 

 ture in France, writes : — " In the Eastern portion of the English Channel, 

 the majority of the banks formerly frequented on account of the number 



* A lecture delivered under the auspices of the Jersey Natural Science Association "at 

 the H6tel-de- Ville, St. Helier, Jersey, October 6th, 1897. 



