SRA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 159 
Dieppe; in July, 1899, a Conference took place at Biar- 
ritz; in September of the same year a meeting was held 
at Boulogne, in which some members of the French and 
British Associations took part; finally, and perhaps most 
important of all, because of the extent to which the 
governments concerned took official part in the meeting, 
was the International Conference for the Exploration of 
the Sea which met at Stockholm in June, 1899, on the 
invitation of the Swedish government. 
At most of these meetings something of interest arose, 
such as, e.g., the description of the remarkable natural 
oyster culture ponds on the west coast of Norway, given 
by Herman Friele at the Bergen Congress; but it may 
well be doubted whether such results are at all commen- 
surate with the time, trouble, and money that has been. 
expended upon the meetings. The discussions of vexed 
questions have certainly been in most cases quite inade- 
quate, and have led to no definite results. Perhaps one 
cause of this partial failure has been that the men who can 
afford the time to attend such meetings have not always 
been really representative of the fisheries science of their 
countries; but a still more important cause of the futility 
of many discussions, and of the reason why the arguments 
used do not always carry conviction, is the absence of 
definite observations and reliable statistics. 
Consequently, I am of opinion, an opinion in which I 
am confirmed by conversation with many fisheries authori- 
ties and investigators during the last few years, that what 
we stand most in need of at present is full and accurate 
statistics in regard to our fisheries, and much more 
detailed information than we have as to the distribution 
round the coast of both fishes, in all stages of growth, 
and the lower animals with which they are associated and 
upon which they feed,- Holding an opinion. such as this, 
