of the, Fishery BQWK&for Sootlqnd, 
189 
may concern the apparatus by which the fish are caught — its nature, 
dimensions, the size of mesh, the size of hook (as in Spain), or the relation 
between the fishing apparatus used in a certain area. The latter mode of 
regulation merges into questions of police, and is very ancient and still 
practised. The earliest extant regulations of sea-fisheries are of this char- 
acter ; it was practised in the great herring fisheries of Scania, under the 
dominion of the Hanseatic League ; and I find evidence of it in the six- 
teenth century in Scotland, in accordance with the 'ordinance maid in 
f ancient tymes.' At the present day such regulations exist in Norway, 
Denmark, Holland, and elsewhere j and a system of licenses has been 
proposed in connection with the lobster fisheries of Canada. 
Total prohibition of fishing within defined areas on depopulated 
grounds (cantonnements cle reserves) has been advocated by an illustrious 
French authority, Professor A. F. Marion ; and instances of the closure of 
certain areas against particular modes of fishing may be found in many 
countries. I am not aware of any special measures having been yet taken 
to protect spawning grounds by the institution of a close-time. 
The attention of fishery authorities at the present day appears to be 
concentrated on the question of protecting immature fish, and at a recent 
conference in London of those representing the English fishery industry — 
and especially the trawlers of the North Sea — it was resolved to petition the 
Government to interfere with the sale of certain fish under certain sizes. 
For reasons previously stated at length,* it appears to me that the greatest 
difficulty may be found in practice in beneficially carrying out such regu- 
lations on the high seas. Merely to interdict the landing or sale of fish 
under prohibited sizes, leaving entirely free the conditions of capture, and the 
treatment of the prohibited fish immediately subsequent to capture, might 
simply cut off an appreciable source of food supply, and raise the price of 
the fish allowed to be sold, without materially increasing the resources of 
the sea. In its scientific aspects^this question is now being investigated on 
the Continent in harmony with the following resolution, proposed by Dr 
P. P. C. Hoek, the Netherlands' delegate, at the London International 
Fisheries' Conference in 1890, and unanimously agreed to : — 
* This Conference considers it desirable that, before the Official Con- 
' ference meets, the different nations interested in the sea fisheries 
' of European waters will collect with, as little delay as possible, 
' sufficient information, scientific as well as statistical, with 
' regard to the damage done by the capture of undersized fish 
' by their fishermen.' 
To discuss here the bearings of the various modes of regulation 
adverted to would occupy a great deal of space ; and the subject is not, 
perhaps, yet sufficiently investigated to make such discussion profitable. 
I therefore pass to consider the question of succouring the inshore fisheries 
by means of sea-fish culture. 
5. The Artificial Propagation and Culture op Sea-Fish. 
The Principles of Sea-Fish Culture. 
The part which has been taken by pisciculture during the present gene- 
ration in replenishing the lake and river fisheries of several countries is 
well known. 
On the Continent, and especially in America, such operations have been 
undertaken on a very liberal scale ; and in this country pisciculture, in 
* Vide my Paper on ! The Distribution of Immature Fish and their Capture by 
Various Modes of Fishing, ' in the Eighth Annual Report. 
