174 
Part III. — Tenth Annual Report 
1 in the open sea be repealed, and that unrestricted freedom of fishing be 
■ permitted hereafter.' This was done by the Act of 1868. 
The Commissioners appointed in 1878 (Buckland and Walpole) also 
stated, ' There was no evidence that the supply of fish generally on the 
' coasts of England and Wales is decreas-ing ; and in those cases in which 
* the supply is decreasing, there is no evidence that the decrease is due 
' to wasteful fishing or over-fishing.' They seem to have allowed that 
there was a falling off in flat fish in some places. In the report of the 
last great Commission (consisting of the Earl of Dalhousie, the Right 
Hon. Edward Marjoribanks, M.P., Mr W. S. Caine, M.P., Sir Thomas 
F. Brady, and Professor Huxley, the latter of whom did not, however, 
sign the Report) it is distinctly admitted that over-fishing had occurred. 
They say : - After carefully considering the whole evidence upon the 
' question of the decrease of fish, we are of opinion that, as regards 
' territorial waters — (I.) On many fishing grounds, from the Moray Firth 
' to Grimsby, there has been a falling off in the takes of flat fish, both 
' as regards quantity and quality. (II.) There has also been a decrease 
' in the takes of haddock in certain places, chiefly in bays and estuaries. 
' As regards offshore waters (III.) No decrease, except in the case of 
' soles, has been proved in the total takes of the North Sea.' 
The third phase or period to which I have adverted began immediately 
subsequent to the Report of this Commission. Both in this country and 
on the Continent restriction has again come into play, and all around the 
North Sea complaints are loud as to a falling off in the supplies of certain 
fish. This is the case also in Spain and Italy and elsewhere. It cannot 
be said that this recrudescence of restriction was the result of definite 
information, ascertained by sufficient statistical or scientific inquiries. In 
its initiation it had the same illogical basis as the legislation prior to 1868. 
Nevertheless, within the past few years, a certain amount of definite 
knowledge has come to the surface, particularly in relation to the North Sea 
Fisheries, which leaves no room for doubt that over-fishing has occurred, 
and is going on to a serious extent. 
And this fact, based upon statistical and scientific evidence, seems to 
me of profound importance — the most important, indeed, which has 
emerged during the present century in connection with sea fisheries. It 
shows that the influential opinions of the last generation as to the 
inexhaustible resources of the sea were greatly exaggerated, and that with 
rapidly augmenting populations around the North Sea, and a vast increase 
in the extent and efficiency of the machinery of fishing, we are face to face 
with a new phase of the question. Sooner or later, this new condition 
will lead, I believe, to international convention, not merely as hitherto 
for the police regulation of the fisheries, but for the conjoint protection 
and conservation of the fishing grounds ; and also to the organisation of 
sea fish culture on a large scale. 
From the point of view enunciated, I give in the following pages a 
result of a study of the statistics of the Scottish Sea Fisheries since the 
beginning of the century. 
2. The Statistics of the Scottish Sea. Fisheries since 1809. 
When the Board of British White Herring Fishery was established in 
1809 to supervise the cure and packing of white herrings, they took over 
duties previously performed by the Customs, and the statistics collected 
related exclusively to the administration of the Acts on the Herring 
Fishery. Officers were to be placed i where herrings are caught or cured, 
' and at the ports or places where vessels are usually fitted out for the 
