PREFACE. 



The " Harvest of the Sea " has been a great success — not 

 because it has sold so well that a third edition is now called 

 for, or that the critics and reviewers have praised it highly, 

 but because it has led to a continuous discussion of fishery- 

 economy ever since the volume was issued from Albemarle 

 Street, and has therefore, in the best sense, fulfilled its 

 "mission." All fishery subjects are now discussed with 

 calmness as well as increased knowledge ; and the men who, 

 along with myself, ventured eight years ago to direct atten- 

 tion to what was wrong, will never again be tabooed or 

 written down as visionaries or enthusiasts. Common sense 

 has triumphed, and much in our fishery economy that was 

 wrong has been made right. 



The present edition of the work has been thoroughly 

 revised. Much of the matter contained in the previous 

 issues has been excised as being out of date or otherwise 

 unnecessary, and a considerable amount of new, and, I hope, 

 interesting information, gathered at home and abroad since 

 its Gist pubUcation, is included in the following pages. 

 Every chapter of the book has been carefully revised, and 

 those chapters thought to be too long have been divided, 

 especially in cases where the natural and economic history 

 of particular fishes admitted of that being done. Eecent 

 official statistics of the Scotch and Irish fisheries are included 

 in this edition, and a new chapter on Aquariums and Fish- 

 ery Exhibitions has been interpolated, as well as new stories 

 of fisher life. 



I have told over again in the following pages the story 

 of the herring-fishery — its blunders and mistakes ; _ and have 

 shown how our salmon-fisheries have gradually improved by 



