SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE SEA-FISHERIES. 



219 



that there has really been no general reduction in prosperity, not- 

 withstanding the development of modern methods and the vast 

 increase of population.* The same may be said of the Lofoten 

 Cod-fisheries of Norway, which for one thousand years have shown 

 no diminution; of the perennially abundant Cod-fisheries of New- 

 foundland ; of the vast fisheries of Canada (under the scientific 

 guidance of Prof. Prince, of St. Andrews), which during the last 

 thirty years have steadily maintained, if not exceeded, their pris- 

 tine value. Even the Lobster (by some regarded as a vanishing 

 form) began in 1875 with 1,638,658 dollars, and ended in 1905 with 

 3,906,998 dollars, the canneries and traps having increased ten and 

 one hundredfold respectively. Yet in the most rigorously fished 

 area (Western Nova Scotia) there was an increase in 1904 over 

 1902 of 196,316 dollars. If a comparatively sedentary animal like 

 the Lobster, which carries a limited number of eggs for many 

 (eight to eleven) months, can survive, and even multiply, under 

 such severe conditions, how much more fitted for endurance are 

 the food-fishes, with their far greater number of floating eggs, 

 their wonderful life-histories, and surroundings in an element so 

 vast and so conducive to safety. 



Value of Catch (in Dollars) of Important Canadian Fishes. 



Thirty Years. 





Cod 

 8,249,000 



Haddock 



Hake 



Mackerel 



Lobsters 



Oysters 



Herring 



1875 



282,385 



152,756 



1,245,570 



1,638,658 



12,000 



1,377,175 















barrels 





1880 



3,900,000 



626,300 



656,894 



1,181,000 



2,843,100 



64,646 

 barrels 



1,233,000 



1885 



4,302.454 



785,245 



217,981 



1,826,681 



2,351,559 



50,540 



2,645,447 











barrels 





1890 



3,449,640 532,068 



440,064! 1,958,492 



1,648,348 



61,032 



2,294,914 











- 





barrels 





1895 



3,638,519 



444,703 



210,856 



736,655 



2,210,096 



47,673 



2,800,556 













barrels 





1900 



3,614,775 



608,067 



520,504 



1,549,448 



3,055,350 



41,920 

 barrels 



1,853.237 



1905 



3,421,400 



806,743 



447,665 



985,223 



3,906,998 



34,449 



2,303,485 











barrels 





* In Japan, likewise, boats are increasing in number as well as in equip- 

 ment, and though Prof. Kishinouye thinks inshore fishes have decreased, yet 

 the absence of reliable statistics shows that Japan is only passing through the 

 experience of all old countries. 



s 2 



