sea-fisheries laboratory. 103 



Trawlers and the Artificial Fertilization of 

 Fish Ova. 



By Andrew Scott. 



Under the above title Mr. A. Meek, M.Sc, in his 

 Report on the scientific investigations carried on under 

 the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee for the 

 year 1901, makes some statements regarding the fertili- 

 zation of fish ova taken from fish caught in the course of 

 commercial trawling, which appear to require some 

 explanation and are at complete variance with the experi- 

 ence we have had in past years in our work in the Irish 

 Sea. In a pamphlet published some time previously, 

 Mr. Meek had given directions for the stripping of ripe 

 fish caught in the trawl net, and for the fertilization of 

 the ova, a method which was advocated by Professor 

 Mcintosh and others many years ago. This work was 

 to be done by the masters of trawlers and the fertilized 

 ova obtained were to be at once returned to the sea. In 

 the report referred to Mr. Meek gives some account of 

 the results obtained. A number of captains of trawlers 

 had been carrying out this work and a report is given of 

 the fish and ova dealt with by Captain Cappelman. 



According to Mr. Meek, Captain Cappelman dealt 

 himself with over 40 cod and 12 plaice, and from these 

 fishes lie obtained 120,000,000 cod ova and 2,000,000 

 plaice ova. This, the writer states, is a modest estimate of 

 the ova dealt with. But a number of other captains had 

 also been engaged in the work, and altogether, he 

 estimates that as a result of the efforts of his Committee 

 some 500,000,000 of fertilized ova had been returned to 

 the North Sea. No particulars are given of the exact 

 methods employed by the captains of the trawlers. We 

 are safe, however, in assuming that they were similar to 

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