of the, Fishery Board for Scotland: 
413 
cannot fail to have an important bearing on the matter, since the coasts 
of Holland, and especially the Zuiderzee, are in many respects peculiar. 
Dr Hoek is also studying the problems of the Rhine salmon, which bear 
specially upon international regulations for the salmon fishing in that 
river. In 1880, Professor Miescher-Ruesch, of Basle, published a very 
valuable report, based upon several years' observations of the fish at 
Basle, and treating fully, for the first time, of the development of the 
reproductive organs. Dr Hoek is no^ supplementing this by an investi- 
gation of the reproductive organs of the salmon, as the fish enter the 
mouth of the Rhine. 
Last July a new and finely-equipped zoological station, under the 
direction of Dr P. P. C. Hoek, was opened at Helder. Professor Hubrecht, 
in an inaugural address, * recounted the history of the Zoological Society, 
which was founded in 1872, of the former zoological station and the 
work accomplished at it, and outlined the work proposed to be under- 
taken at the new station. The Government gave a grant of land for the 
new station. 
At the Fifth Annual Fishery Conference Commission, to be held 
in May of this year (1891), some interesting questions will be considered. 
There are various proposals for increased fishery harbour accommodation, 
for the erection of beacons, &c. Others are as follows : — To consider the 
desirability of obtaining liberty to fish for oysters on unleased ground ; 
to consider the desirability of opening the dry mussel-beds later in the 
season than at present, in order to obtain stronger seed, and the deep- 
water beds earlier, to prevent harm to seed from star-fishes ; to have the 
fisheries, especially the mussel fisheries in the Zuiderzee, placed upon an 
equal footing with that of Zealand, which is at present patronised by the 
State. 
In connection with the capture and destruction of immature fish, it is 
also proposed that a law should be passed prohibiting fishing with nets 
having meshes so small that immature fish cannot escape, and at the same 
time rendering it compulsory that all small fish caught should be imme- 
diately returned to the sea. 
In the official report on the Netherlands sea fisheries for 1889"^ it is 
stated that the herring fishery has been in all respects satisfactory. The 
catch was the most abundant on record. The average catch per vessel 
rose, for luggers to 92 J lasts (185 tons or 1295 barrels), or 13 lasts more 
than the greatest annual average of the past twenty-five years. All 
luggers and fishing-boats together brought in upwards of 444,000 barrels 
of salted herrings, besides more than 15,000,000 fish destined to be cured 
as red herrings. Altogether this would amount to 376,000,000 caught 
in the North Sea. 
Naturally, such an abundant harvest told upon the price. The average 
prices of all kinds were as follows: — 
Francs. 
Francs. 
1880, . 
. 13-50 
1885, . 
11-85 
1881, . 
. 19-19 
1886, 
. 11 
1882, . 
17-70 
1887, . 
. 10-30 
1883, . 
. 20-25 
1888, 
. 13-05 
1884, . 
. 12-70 
1889, 
. 11 
The average price for 1889 reached almost the minimum recorded figure; 
but yet though the cost of freighting was greater, the price was high enough 
to secure good returns and fair profits. It once was universally main- 
tained that the Dutch herring industry, owing to the great cost of fitting 
* Verslag van den Stoat der Nederlandsche Zeevisscherijen over 1889. 
