THE FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND 87 



out the regulations of the Acts of Parliament I 

 have mentioned so far as they can on land ; they 

 arbitrate in disputes and restore nets, gear, etc., 

 lost and recovered ; and they assist in carrying out 

 the provisions of the Sea-Fishery Acts which deal 

 with the registration, lighting, numbering, etc., of 

 fishing boats. Finally (and in this respect many 

 of them have been quite exceptional men), they 

 aid in the conduct of the scientific investigations 

 undertaken by the Board. 



A considerable amount of scientific work was 

 instigated by the White Herring Commissioners, 

 and, though no regular department of the old 

 authority existed for this purpose, some results 

 of first-rate importance were obtained. Most of 

 these investigations had a very practical bearing, 

 and they seem to have been initiated as the result 

 of complaints that the sprat fishing in the Firth of 

 Forth was responsible for the destruction of a vast 

 quantity of small herrings. Investigations were 

 therefore carried out in 1836, which showed that 

 the sprat was a perfectly distinct fish from the 

 herring, and that the young fishes known as 

 " sprats " were a mixture, in variable proportions, 

 of the two species. These researches were con- 

 tinued from 1843 to 1847 t)y H. Goodsir and 

 J. Wilson, and were extended to the elucidation 

 of the natural history of the herring. It had been 

 made known previously by Dr Walker ^ that the 



1 Transactions, Highland Society, 1803. 



