PEEl'ACE. All 



information vrith regard to the annual progress of our had- 

 dock and cod fisheries, and ia the face of the repeated 

 assertions which are annually published as to over-fishing, 

 it is only by collecting accurate statistics of the annual catch 

 that we can determine the truth of what is said. It is 

 quite certain that we have a problem spt before us, by the 

 correct solution of which we shall find out whether our 

 fisheries are progressing, standing still, or declining. It is 

 not by means of one year's great fishing that we can settle 

 whether or no we have broken upon our capital stock, or 

 are living on its produce. 



We ought then, as suggested above, to have consecutive 

 well-planned statistics, systematically gathered every season 

 noting the size of vessels and the extent of their fishing 

 gear, and these might be taken at all the chief ports. In 

 the course of a few years, were this done, we would possess 

 a complete index to the state of our fisheries, and should 

 then be able to know, with exactitude, whether our 

 fish supplies were capable of indefinite extension or not. 

 As regards all fish about which we can obtain statistics, it 

 can at once be seen that man is able to affect the supplies. 

 The salmon-fisheries in" particular, gave us a wonderful note 

 of alarm, but the salmon being a proprietary fish of great 

 value, owners of fisheries were quick to scent the danger, 

 and prompt to obtain the necessary remedies ; and now, 

 so weU is the economy of our salmon rivers understood, 

 that the lower proprietors have actually begun to consider the 

 rights of, and to conciliate, the upper proprietors ! What is 

 a salmon-river without those tributary streams which afford 

 a safe home to the fish at that period of its life when it is 

 most in need of it; and whether the venue be laid in Scotland 

 or England, it is absolutely necessary that the salmon should 

 have breeding-ground. 



We have still much to learn with regard to fishery 

 economy, although it is not easy to devise better modes of 

 fishing than those which now prevail. If we cast our nets 

 into the water, we must accept the fish they capture, whether 

 they be good for food or quite unfit for use. If we use 

 trawl nets we must endure the consequences, and when we 



