SEA FISHERIES LABORATORY. 139 



spawning grounds. If then, it is impossible at present to 

 take any steps for the protection of the old fish when 

 spawning, can anything be done to ensure a more abundant 

 supply of larval fishes to stock our bays? The only help, 

 in addition to protection, that can be given by man to the 

 fish-population of an area is by artificial fish culture and 

 hatching. On account of the enormous numbers of ova 

 which food fish produce it is possible for man, by stepping 

 in and saving even a minute fractional per-centage from 

 the destruction which normally takes place, to increase 

 very largely the number of young in a given area of the 

 coast waters. 



These considerations shew the importance of sea-fish 

 hatching, and in an area like the Irish Sea there ought to 

 be, and one can scarcely doubt but that there will soon 

 be, a central fish hatching and rearing establishment in 

 some convenient spot where the water is the purest 

 obtainable and as free as possible from all suspended 

 matters. Such a hatchery should not be for the benefit 

 of Lancashire alone, nor of Cheshire, nor of the Isle of 

 Man. The locality ought to be chosen on the merits of 

 its physical conditions alone, apart from any ideas of 

 County boundaries and limits of jurisdiction of local 

 authorities. In a previous report, Port Erin at the S.W. 

 corner of the Isle of Man was recommended for this 

 purpose, solely because of the known purity and clearness 

 of the sea water on that rocky coast, because of the 

 proximity to the spawning grounds of the most esteemed 

 fish, and because of the presence of the Biological Station 

 at Port Erin from which assistance and advice might 

 readily be obtained in regard to many of the difficulties 

 which would probably turn up during the first few years 

 of working. Spawning fish could be obtained in the 

 season either from the trawlers at Port Erin or from the 



