SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 181 



I have also prepared, at the request of the Chairman, 

 an outline scheme of work to be undertaken at Piel (see 

 below, p. 9.), and a Memorandum on Technical Instruc- 

 tion for Fishermen, from which I quote the following 

 opinion : — 



"Instead of sending lecturers to various parts of the 

 district, it would be better to bring parties of selected men 

 from the different fishing centres to Liverpool to hear 

 some fishery lectures in the University, where there are 

 facilities for effective illustration, and to be shown matters 

 practically in the Fisheries Laboratory and in the Museum. 

 I should recommend, also, that these same men should 

 be sent afterwards in the same way to our Marine 

 Hatchery at Piel during the hatching season." 



It has been suggested that a useful addition to our 

 investigation during the last two years of the currents of 

 the Irish Sea by means of drift bottles would be the 

 liberation of large numbers of drift bottles at the spots 

 where we find fish spawn. We propose to use empty 

 wine bottles weighted with sand so as to float submerged, 

 with our usual post-card attached to the inner end of the 

 cork. The bottles are now being prepared, and will be 

 set free from the steamer during the spawning season. 



I append to this Eeport : — 



(A.) A note on the Shad, by Mr. K. L. Ascroft. 



(B.) A guide to the very successful Sea-Fisheries 

 Exhibition at University College, which was 

 opened by Mr. John Fell on October 29th. 



W. A. Herdman. 



January, 1898. 



