JuNH 1, 1903,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
851 
pockets of the shareholders. Like some Syndi- 
cates more intimately connected with Ceylon, 
the office expenses, mismanaging directors, 
&c., often absorb every fartltfng of the 
ample profits. There is, perhaps, less difficulty 
in tracing the leakage of trawling profits 
than that* of Tea Companies. The fishing 
grounds are free to all, and, as a rule, all 
come in pretty equally fished. Yet, while 
some pay from 15 to 35 per cent yearly. 
Others, for years, have not paid a penny to 
the poor shareholders who found the bulk 
of the capital. A strict enquiry might reveal 
the fact, that while one director supplies 
the gearing, another the coals, the Manager 
may supply the ice and in addition draw 
his 5 per cent on sales — which, in a small 
fleet would amount to over £1,000 per 
annum. The unsuspecting investor rarely 
thinks of guarding against such extortion. 
It seems probable, liowever, that many such 
directorates will be placed under a legislative 
ban, when a little enquiry will show that 
there is not n Trawling Company in Aber- 
deen ; not a Tea Company in Ceylon ; but 
should give a decent return to the share- 
holder, if fairly and squarely managed. 
P.S.—l find I rather under-estimated the 
daily deliveries at about 200 tons— 500 may 
be nearer the mark. Indeed yesterday (8th 
April) the figures were 37.S tons. 
» 
FISHING AND TRAWLING. 
We find there is more in the argument 
put forward by Dr. Uandevia against in- 
discriminate "trawling" than we had sup- 
posed. We have been enlightened by an 
interesting and important paper which has 
just come into our hands, entitled, — 
Tiie Possibilities of Fisliery Improvement in 
Jersey, with Notes on the Present State of Marine 
Pisciculture and Fishery Regulation, by .James 
Hornell (Director of the Jersey Marine Biological 
Station). — Reprinted from ' The Journal of Marine 
Zoology and Microscopy.'* 
* Mr. Hornell, we need scarcely say, is the 
scientist who has been called to his assistance 
by Professor HerJman, P. R. S. , and who has 
taken charge of experimental pearl-oyster 
culture (a Marine Laboratory) in Galle 
Harbour. He is the author of several other 
learned papers in home scientific journals, for 
instance : —Report on the Sclus! >poda, Cumacea, 
Isopoda and Ainphipoda of the Channel Islands, 
by Alfred O. Walker, F.L.S. , and James Hornell 
(Reprinted from ' Journal of Marine Zoology and 
Microscopy,' Vol. IL No. 7 ; Sept., 1896).— Notes 
on the Marine Worms of the Channel Islands, by 
Mr. Janies Hornell (Reprinted from the Tran- 
sactions of the ' Guernsey Society of Natural 
Science ' for 1895.) — The tlse of Formalin as a 
Preservative Medium for Marine Animals, by 
James Hornell (Reprinted from ' Natural Science,' 
Vol. II, No.46, Dec. 1895.) But of greater importance 
is a volume of ' Microscopical Studies in Marine 
Zoology ' with twenty full-page plates of 
original illustrations, being a reprint of articles 
from the ' Journal of Marine Zoology ' and 
which was published in book form in 1901. — All 
these show that Mr. Hornell takes high rank as a 
Marine Zoologist and authority on Fisheries. 
The substance of this essay was first 
delivered as a lecture under the auspices of 
the Jersey Natural Science Association and 
its scope may be judged from the following 
synopsis : — 
1 The continuous decay of inshore fisheries, here 
and abroad ; the chief causes locally, 
2 Remedial measures pur.sued elsewhere, 
3 Scope and Programme of the investigations and 
experiments requisite locally. 
4. Summary of the Fishery Laws having force in 
Jersey ; their inadequacy to meet present require- 
ments. 
5 Forecast of the probable outcovne of an ade- 
quate local fi&hery investigation. 
Here then are the opening sentences of 
Mr HorneU's lecture essay :— 
Duiing recent years, in well-nigh every fishing 
hamlet in Great Britain the plaint of lessened 
catches in the places where fish formerly abounded 
has been practically unanimous. The total 
catches landed on the quay? have, however, not 
decreased ; on the contrary, by the employment of 
powerful steam trawlers able to tish far from home, 
by the longer journeys made by sail-trawlers and 
by the larger liners, and by the invention of im- 
proved methods and appliances, the fi.?h supply of 
Great Britain has materially increased, but an in- 
crease entirely obtained from extra-territorial 
waters. The inshore fishermen, such as we have in 
Jersey, the men who fish in small undecked boats, 
have no share »n this prosperity ; these men find 
their own particular grounds rapidly becoming 
depopulated, and unable to seek the more 
distant fishing-grounds, are compelled either 
to seek new occupations or to languish 
on earnings that are miserably insufficient. 
Along the French coast a similar evil state 
of matters exists ; thus, my esteemed friend Dr. 
Canu, Director of the Station Aquicole at Bou- 
logne, and the foremost authority on pisciculture 
in France, writes : — ' In the Eastern poi tion of the 
Engli.sh Channel, the nnjority of the banks 
formerly frequented on account of the number and 
the quality of their fish, have long since witnessed 
the loss of their reputation ; they are even partially 
a'iandoned.' And again:—' The diminution of fish 
catches on the banks which line our Channel coast 
can no longer be disputed.' . . . 'The decrease of 
our small Northern fishing ports is more eloquent 
than any statistics upon this point.' 
And among the causes of such decrease, 
Mr Hornell indicates,— 
Trawling within the three-mile limit is considered 
by liners as highly prejudicial on account of the 
wholesale destruction it effects. In Scotland trawl, 
ing is now prohibiteil, both within the three-mile 
limit and also in certain of the great bays or 
Friths, and many authorities are extremely an.vious 
to have the range of prohibition extended further, 
so that the territorial waters shall form a zone of, 
say, seven or even thirteen miles in width, wherein 
trawling shall be rigorously suppressed. 
In dealing with remedial measures Mr 
Hornell refers to "protective laws" in the 
past, to thegood done by Fisheries Exhibitions, 
which have promoted Fisheries Cmiinittees 
among which that of Lancashire, directed 
by Professor Herdman, takes the lead. 
Protective bye laws have been p.issed ; hut 
more importanc is the inception (Hrst in 
America) of " marine fish hatchery " which 
in Norway and Scotland especially has 
