THE SEA-FISHERIES OF IRELAND 117 



minated by the transplanting laws. By the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century the fisheries 

 were evidently in great need of encouragement. 

 In 1804 the Marine Society of London promoted 

 a scheme to fish on the Nymph Bank, off Wex- 

 ford. No aid was sought from the Government, 

 but a Bill was introduced into Parliament. 

 Petitions, however, poured in from English fish- 

 ing stations, including Harwich, Gravesend, and 

 Faversham, and in consequence of this opposition 

 the Bill was lost by a small minority. 



We have seen that a very thorough-going 

 system of protection by means of bounties 

 on the tonnage of fishing vessels, and on the 

 catches made, was initiated in Great Britain in 

 1809. This affected Scotland principally, for it 

 was there that the herring fisheries were most 

 in need of artificial aids. But though this en- 

 couragement was at least equally necessary in 

 Ireland, where the sea-fisheries had declined 

 ever since the Union, it was not until 18 19 

 that it was attempted. In that year an Act^ 

 was passed providing for the establishment of a 

 fisheries authority and a bounty system on the 

 coasts of Ireland. A Board was created, con- 

 sisting of twenty unpaid commissioners, with a 

 secretary, three clerks, and twenty-four inspectors 

 (involving an annual expenditure in salaries of 



1 Report on the Coast and Deep-sea Fisheries of Ireland, 1870. 



2 59 Geo. III. c. 109. 



