THE CULTIVATION OF SEA FISH 307 



netting, preventing river pollution and poaching, it is hopeless 

 to think of it. What we must pray for is that some rich 

 philanthropist like Mr. Carnegie or the late Mr. Cecil Rhodes 

 will come forward and do for our fisheries what they have done 

 for our libraries and universities. 



The Cultivation of Flat-Fish 



The plaice, sole, flounder, and other flat-fish are such 

 universally esteemed food-fishes that it is not to be wondered 

 at if the supply does not keep pace with the demands of 

 our growing population, seeing that our available fishing- 

 grounds for them are limited strictly by natural conditions 

 which do not affect the round fish. 



Judging from the experiments which have been made in 

 Denmark, there is good ground for supposing that the stock 

 of flat-fish in a depleted locality may be increased, not by 

 producing just hatched fry and setting them free to be carried 

 out to sea, but by planting young fish of some inches in length 

 taken from some locality where they are plentiful. 



As a result of its investigations, the Committee of the 

 House of Commons appointed in 1893 to consider the state 

 of our deep-sea and coast fisheries found that, whereas there 

 has been no evidence of decrease of herring and round fish 

 — mackerel, cod, haddock, etc. — there has been an appreciable 

 decrease of flat-fish, especially of plaice and soles. 



The flounder fishery in the Thames, from Teddington 

 downwards, was an important one for centuries ; but until the 

 London sewage is treated by the bacteriological process, I fear 

 there is no chance of re-establishing it on this river, any more 

 than there is of stocking the river with salmon. It is quite 

 true that the 200 million gallons poured in every twenty-four 

 hours at Barking and Crossness are not so thick as formerly, 

 but they are, every gallon, as poisonous. The sludge is taken 

 out before the rest of the sewage goes into the river, and is 



