IMPOVERISHMENT OF THE GROUNDS 249 



was making inroads on the resources of the sea. 

 Apparently the question of fisheries impoverish- 

 ment could be solved by either of two methods : 

 (i) by the collection of accurate statistics of the 

 actual progress of the industry, and (2) by direct 

 experiment. When the Select Committee of 1893 

 came to hear evidence, both of these methods 

 had been adopted. The Sea-Fisheries (Scotland) 

 Amendment Act of 1885 had given the Scottish 

 Fishery Board powers, and the Treasury had reluct- 

 antly given them resources, to make experiments. 

 About the same time the Board of Trade began 

 at last to collect fishery statistics, and had already 

 published a series of statements ^ which professed 

 to give an accurate account of the men and vessels 

 employed in the English and Welsh fisheries, and of 

 the quantities and values of the fish caught each year. 



The Experimental Evidence 



It was concluded by the Trawling Commission 

 that the excessive use of the beam-trawl as an 

 instrument of fishing could (temporarily, at least) 

 reduce both the numbers and the average sizes of 

 the less migratory fishes on a limited area. The 

 object of the experiments initiated in 1886 by 

 the Scottish Fishery Board was to determine 

 whether or not this was the case, and if it were, 

 whether such an impoverished ground would 

 recover if trawl-fishing were prohibited on it for 



1 The Statistical Tables and Memoranda. 



