108 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



cultivation is one of the natural applications of Biological 

 Science, and ought to be supported by Sea-Fisheries Adminis- 

 trators and carried out under the direction of specially trained 

 marine biologists. 



Now that considerable areas of the usual British fishing 

 grounds are either closed to trawlers or impracticable for the 

 usual fishing operations, any increase of employment on the 

 sea-shore and in shallow waters round the coast may be of 

 direct and immediate advantage both to the men and to the 

 country. Such industries as shell-fish cultivation, shrimping 

 and prawning, whitebait and sprat fishing, and herring fishing 

 and curing, if extended and exploited judiciously, will add to 

 employment, will increase the food supply of the country, 

 and may lead to the establishment of permanent industries 

 of a profitable nature. On the West coast the Lancashire and 

 Western Sea- Fisheries Committee have been alive to such 

 possibilities for some time past, and much of their scientific 

 fisheries work has been directed towards showing the improve- 

 ments that might be introduced in connection with the local 

 shell-fish industries. It has been shown in their Annual Eeports 

 how mussels and cockles can be fattened and greatly increased 

 in value by transplanting to better feeding grounds, and how, 

 if reared in sewage polluted waters, they can then be cleansed 

 and purified before being sent to market. Our Local Fisheries 

 Committee, realising the present opportunity of helping such 

 deserving industries, have worked out several concrete cases 

 where a moderate expenditure, either in transplanting or in 

 purifying the shell-fish or both, would be likely to give im- 

 mediate beneficial results ; and so far as opportunity offers 

 they are endeavouring to promote such useful work. This 

 is not a time when it is easy to induce public bodies to under- 

 take any fresh expense, but it will be unfortunate for the 

 country if such directly productive expenditure, which may 

 reasonablv be expected to lead to the establishment of per- 



