THE FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND 95 



and drifts, and the nature of the sea-bottom, 

 began in this country with the famous voyage 

 of the Challenger^ and was first taken up in 

 relation to sea-fishery matters by the German 

 Kiel Kommission. The importance of this kind 

 of investigation was from the first seen by the 

 Scottish Fishery Board, and several expeditions 

 were made with this object in view. Such work 

 formed a regular part of the routine investigation 

 of the Garland, and within the last few years, 

 when trawling experiments were practically aban- 

 doned, physical research has become for the time 

 the most important part of fisheries observations. 



Finally, I have to mention two directly 

 economic departments of the Board's work : 

 the collection of commercial fisheries statistics 

 and the artificial cultivation of sea-fish. The 

 collection of statistics has been carried out by 

 the Scottish authority since the beginning of 

 the nineteenth century. For a long time only 

 statistics relating to the herring fishery were 

 collected ; but very soon after its reconstruction 

 in 1882 the system was applied to other sea- 

 fisheries, and at the present time it is the most 

 perfect fishery statistical system in existence in 

 any part of the world. The information thus 

 obtained has been of the greatest value in sea- 

 fisheries administration, and this department alone 

 of the Board's work has amply justified all the 

 expenditure in relation to Scottish fisheries. 



