432 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 171 



been spent by the state upon spasmodic inquiries 

 into the effects of trawling;, and the various ques- 

 tions the rapid investigation of which has from 

 time to time appeared to be 'needful.' What is 

 now needed is a more systematic and determined 

 attempt to grapple with some of the more impor- 

 tant questions, the solution of which is likely to 

 affect the interests of the fish industry. 



I have drawn up a brief statement on the sub- 

 ject of the relation of scientific investigation to 

 fishery interests, which, in no dogmatic spirit, but 

 with a view to eliciting criticism and suggestion, 

 I here submit to the reader : — 



1. The necessity for an administration of our 

 marine and fresh-water fisheries, based upon 

 thorough or scientific knowledge of all that re- 

 lates to them, has become obvious of late years. 

 The trawling commission of 1884-85 has reported 

 to this effect, in so far as the subject of their in- 

 quiries is concerned. Other nations have adopted 

 such a method of dealing with their fisheries, 

 with good results and the promise of better. 



2. The inquiries and operations necessary can- 

 not be conducted as the result of private commer- 

 cial enterprise : they must be national in charac- 

 ter. 



3. While the general trade returns of the fishing- 

 industry on the one hand, and the practical enfor- 

 cing of regulations as to the protection of fishing- 

 grounds and the restriction of fishing-operations 

 within certain seasons and localities, are matters 

 with which an ordinary staff of officials can 

 effectually deal, yet the chief purposes of the 

 operation of a satisfactory fisheries department 

 are of such a nature that only expert naturalists 

 can usefully advise upon them and carry them 

 out. It is therefore important that the organiza- 

 tion of a state fisheries department should either 

 be primarily under the control of a scientific au- 

 thority, who should direct the practical agencies 

 as to trade returns and police, or that there should 

 be distinct and parallel branches of the depart- 

 ment, — the one concerned in scientific questions, 

 the other in collecting trade returns and in direct- 

 ing the fisheries police. 



4. It does not appear that there is any ground 

 for supposing that individuals of scientific train- 

 ing are ipso facto unfitted for administrative du- 

 ties, and there would be obvious advantages in 

 placing the operations of a fisheries department 

 under one head. Indeed, it may be maintained 

 that a scientific education, and capacity for sci- 

 entific work, are likely to produce a more prac- 

 tical and enterprising director of such a depart- 

 ment than could elsewhere be found. It has not 

 been found desirable to place the administration of 

 the botanical institution at Kew in the hands of 



a non-scientific director, and there is no obvious 

 reason for avoiding the employment of a scien- 

 tific staff in the case of a fisheries department. It 

 is extremely important, from the point of view 

 of the public welfare, that the state should not set 

 the example of ignoring the value of scientific 

 knowledge and training ; while it is no less impor- 

 tant to avoid the waste of public money which 

 must result from employing officials who are not 

 conversant with the matters with which they 

 have to deal, in place of trained experts. 



The nature of the work to be done, is, 1°, gen- 

 erally to ascertain what restrictions or modifica- 

 tions in the proceedmgs of fishermen are desirable, 

 so as to insure the largest and most satisfactory 

 returns, prospectively as well as immediately, 

 from the fishing-grounds of the English coast and 

 from English rivers and lakes ; 2°, especially to 

 ascertain whether existing fishing-grounds can be 

 improved by the artificial breeding of food-fishes 

 and shell-fish, and to determine the methods of 

 carrying on such breeding, and to put these 

 methods into practice ; 3°, to find new fishing- 

 grounds ; 4°, to introduce new fish, — either ac- 

 tually new to the locality, or new to the con- 

 sumer ; 5°, to introduce (if practicable) methods 

 of rearing and fattening marine fish in stock- 

 ponds ; 6°, to look after the cultivation and supply 

 of bait ; 7°, to introduce new baits, new methods 

 of fishing, improved nets, improved boats, new 

 methods of transport and of curing. 



The work can be divided into two sections : A. 

 Investigation ; B. Practical administration. 



A. Investigation. — The inquiries which are 

 necessary in order to effect the purposes indicated 

 above are as follows : — 



1. A thorough physical and biological explora- 

 tion of the British coasts within a certain distance 

 of the shore-line, especially and primarily in the 

 neigborhood of fishing-grounds. The investiga- 

 tion must include a determination of temperature 

 and currents at various depths, the nature of the 

 bottom, the composition of the sea-water, and the 

 influence of rivers and conformation of coast 

 upon these features. At the same time, the entire 

 range of the fauna and flora must be investigated 

 in relation to small areas, so as to connect the 

 varying living inhabitants of different areas with 

 the varying physical conditions of those areas, 

 and with the varying association of the living in- 

 habitants inter se. Only in this way can the re- 

 lation of food-fishes to the physical conditions of 

 the sea and to their living associates be asc< re- 

 tained, and data furnished for ultimately deter- 

 mining the causes of the local distribution of 

 different kinds of food-fishes, and of the periodic 

 migrations of some kinds of them. 



