44 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES 



herrings are far more dependent on the physical 

 character of the water — a relation which is particularly 

 clear, as the international investigations have already 

 shown, in areas where sharply contrasted ocean- 

 currents are constantly striving for the mastery, as 

 they are in the neighbourhood of the Shetland Isles. 

 The hydrographical bulletin of the International 

 Council recorded a distinctly lower temperature for 

 the Atlantic current between Iceland and Scotland at 

 the beginning of the year 1906 than at the correspond- 

 ing season of 1903, 1904, or 1905 ; and an unusually low 

 temperature has been characteristic of the Shetland 

 waters throughout the summer of 1906. The Gulf 

 Stream could more justly be blamed for the compara- 

 tive failure of the Shetland fishery in 1906 than the 

 Norwegian whalers, whose operations have probably 

 done no more injury to the herring-fishery than they 

 did in 1905 or the year before. Such failures are often 

 real disasters to a seafaring population — a race who 

 are, as a rule, of small versatility and unable to turn 

 readily to new trades. Their occurrence usually 

 provokes a cry for legislation. 



Such an outcry is in this country usually met by 

 the appointment of a Commission, or of a special 

 Parliamentary Committee. Seventeen such inquiries 

 into sea-fisheries have been held since Queen Victoria 

 came to the throne, an average of one every four 

 years. The usual process is gone through ; a certain 

 number of more or less influential gentlemen (one of 

 them perhaps an expert) are given a ' wide reference,' 

 and they proceed to take evidence. An energetic 

 secretary, usually a young barrister, collects facts; 

 a great number of witnesses, like Mrs. Wititterly, 

 'express an immense variety of opinions on an 

 immense variety of subjects.' These are written 

 down and printed ; and the Commissioners, with the 

 aid of the energetic secretary, seek to distil wisdom 



