PREFACE ix 



a rule, sought to employ investigators whose sole 

 business it was to study the effect of the stringent 

 regulations proposed by them ; and one finds that 

 there are, even at the present day, few fishery 

 restrictions which are based on a rational con- 

 sideration of natural conditions in the sea. It is 

 perhaps true that the scientific man who advises 

 the administrator is often very much of an amateur, 

 and that his manner of looking at legislative pro- 

 blems is rather academic ; but it is no less true 

 that unaided legislative interference with methods 

 of fishing has, not infrequently, been both foolish 

 and, at the least, unnecessary. There is at the 

 present time a very obvious tendency, on the part 

 of those who have to do with the control of the 

 fisheries, to expect " practical results " from the 

 investigator in a very short time — and at a very 

 cheap rate. Attentive study of the application of 

 scientific research to fishery legislation will show 

 anyone who cares to see it that the only way to 

 ensure that the fisheries may by and by be adminis- 

 tered in the best interests of the fisherman and the 

 consumer, is to persevere slowly and patiently with 

 the acquirement of scientific facts. No one who 

 takes the trouble to make himself thoroughly 

 acquainted with the results of sea-fishery legislation 

 in the past can doubt that by this method alone 

 can results of lasting value be obtained. 



J. JOHNSTONE. 

 Liverpool, June 1905. 



