MU. T. SOUTinVEr.L ON TilE HERRING FISHERY. 37-J 
and tlio capital invested at not less than .£10,000,000 ; a by no 
means contemptible item in the national trade. 
The only other subject discussed which directly concerns the 
present notes is tliat of the Herring Fishery; but conspicuous by 
their absence were some subjects of great importance, such as the 
Utilisation of waste tish products, A more profitable mode of 
disposal of the fish during the gluts which too frecpiently take 
j)lace in tl»e market than by throwing them overboard, or casting 
them in a crude state on to the land, E.xperimental enquiries as to 
bettor j)i’oce.ssos of preserving fish for, and methods of conveying 
them to the various distant markets ; not to mention the vitil 
questions of F.xliaustion, or of Ke-stocking already exhausted Fishing 
({rounds. These are all subjects which do not affect the present, 
however important they may be in the immediate future, and it is 
not to bo expected that the busy jjractical men there present, 
whose sole object is to get the greatest (piantity of fish out of the 
sea with the least possible expenditure of time and money, iind to 
convey them to the best market as cheaply and expeditiously as 
possible, would have leisure to devote their time to such subjects, 
even if they had the necessary scientific training ; but I venture to 
predict that the time is not for distant when such subjects icill 
become of the greatest imporfonce, and then the authorities will 
regret the absence of a scientific element in the Fishery Department 
or Foard, whichever it may be, and it is only to bo hoped the 
awakening may not be too long deferred. 
In the mean time the Scottish Fishery Board is doing most 
excellent work (although it is by no means appreciated), and 
is accumulating facts and observations that may at some future day 
be of the greatest service. I wish to call attention to some of 
these observations on the vexed question of the size of the meshes 
of Herring nets now in use, trusting the result may be useful to 
some of our own fishermen. 
Mr. J. Duncan Matthews, F.E.S.E., in a paper on “Variety 
among the Herrings of the Scottish Coasts,” printed as an 
appendix to the ‘ Fourth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for 
Scotland,’ contributes some remarks with regard to the relation 
between the size of the meshes, and the fish which are taken by 
them, which our fishermen will do well to bear in mind, although 
it seems impossible that they should not be fully aware of the 
