SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 137 



observations as to leave no doubt as to the conditions of 

 fisheries and the progress of events. 



I have spoken of the statistics as being incomplete and 

 inadequate ; but although they do not give us the informa- 

 tion we expected, they are by no means useless. Every 

 correct observation, and there are many thousands of such 

 in our sheets, is of value even if it deals with isolated 

 facts. It may give useful information which may be 

 required at any time, and we hope that all these observa- 

 tions may fit in with our future records of facts, and so 

 play their part eventually in the elucidation of important 

 points. 



Statistics obtained as the result of investigations made 

 with regularity at fixed spots in accordance with a definite 

 scheme are the more necessary since such very different 

 conclusions have been drawn of late years from the com- 

 mercial statistics as supplied by the Board of Trade. One 

 of the most recently expressed of these is an article by 

 Mr. Walter Grarstang, entitled " The Impoverishment of 

 the Sea/' in which the conclusion is arrived at that the 

 fish population is decreasing because although the total 

 catch increases year by year, the take per unit of catching 

 power diminishes. I do not quarrel with Mr. Grarstang' s 

 conclusion, but the argument by which he arrives at it 

 does not cany conviction. Except on ground where 

 there is practically an unlimited number of fish, doubling 

 the number of boats would surely not lead to doubling 

 the catch, and consequently as the boats increased 

 the take per boat would diminish to some extent without 

 there being necessarily a permanent reduction of the fish 

 population. 



Turning to another important side of fisheries work, 

 namely, experimental investigation, it is of interest to 

 note that in the twenty-fifth lleport of the United States 



