SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE SEA-FISHERIES. 207 



St. Andrews for details, so that the fullest information was at 

 the Board's disposal. Unfortunately, as it proved, the Board 

 deviated from the advice given in regard to ship, staff, and 

 apparatus, as well as in the regularity of the experiments in the 

 closed areas, though, it is right to add, this may have been 

 partly due to lack of funds. 



The Scotch Fishery Board thus entrusted by the Government 

 with the important duty of carrying out the scientific experiments 

 — experiments which were to form the basis for future fishery 

 legislation— had recently been constituted (1882), and had begun 

 to interest itself in scientific questions — such as the spawning of 

 the Herring. Many would have thought that it would have 

 thoroughly sifted this intricate subject in the closed areas before 

 proceeding to avail itself of the increased powers the Secretary 

 for Scotland (Lord Dalhousie) had obtained for it. The death of 

 Lord Dalhousie, who always kept himself in touch with the pro- 

 ceedings of the Board, seems, however, to have loosened the 

 hands of the members. Having just commenced the trawling 

 investigations in the areas, and before any reliable result could 

 have been obtained, the Scotch Board closed a considerable area 

 in the Moray Firth, being " of opinion that valuable scientific 

 results might be obtained if beam- trawling was restricted in the 

 district." Moreover, while releasing Aberdeen Bay, it would 

 appear somewhat hastily, the Board increased the closed areas 

 in the Firth of Forth and St. Andrews Bay. 



Subsequently, the work of two summers in the closed areas — 

 with an inefficient ship, and with observers new to the duties — 

 was sufficient to make the Board forgetful of the labours of Lord 

 Dalhousie's Commission and its injunctions, for it appointed a 

 Committee of its own members to form an independent judgment 

 on trawling and the closure. After inquiries held at various 

 fishing centres in Scotland, this Committee presented a Beport 

 on the subject to the Secretary for Scotland (Sir G. Trevelyan) 

 in May, 1888. Whilst no one would have wished to cramp the 

 energies of the Board in this or any other inquiry, the methods 

 adopted were open to criticism. It is also probable that this 

 inquiry would not have happened if Lord Dalhousie had been 

 Secretary for Scotland. Their experimental ship had, as men- 

 tioned, only searched the seas for two summers, when, misled by 



