THE SEA-FISHERIES OF IRELAND 131 



advantages for oyster-culture which the Irish 

 coastal waters possess, in their freedom from sewage 

 and trade contamination. Research is carried on 

 energetically by the scientific adviser and his 

 staff, both on shore, at a laboratory on the coast 

 of Galway, and at sea in the cruiser Helga. 

 Under the old conditions, prior to the establishment 

 of the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 

 tion, scientific research had naturally no place 

 in the administration of the Irish fisheries. It 

 was not until the eighties that any attempts at the 

 investigation of the Irish seas, from the point of 

 view of the fisheries, were made, and then these 

 were promoted first of all by the Royal Irish 

 Academy, and later on by the Royal Dublin 

 Society. These investigations were directed to- 

 wards the exploration of little-known regions off 

 the south and west coasts, and their object was 

 not so much the elucidation of special problems of 

 marine natural history as the survey of the sea 

 from the point of view of the establishment of 

 definite fisheries. Mr Spotswood Green, who 

 later on became one of the inspectors of Irish 

 fisheries, was the first naturalist to be engaged in 

 this work. Later on the Royal Dublin Society 

 promoted a more ambitious survey of the west- 

 coast waters, and were successful in inducing the 

 Government to contribute largely to the expenses 

 of the investigation. This took the form of a 

 survey, in the course of which fishing operations 



