THE TRAWLING EXCURSIONS. 
W luit might be termed our annual stock-taking of the sandy 
bays along the coast has been once more completed. The constant 
character of the excursions, the similar conditions of time and 
season and apparatus make the statistics now at our disposal of the 
greatest value. And I beg, therefore, to take this early opportunity 
in my report to record our grateful thanks to Mr. John Dent for 
the use of the steamer “Livingstone,” and also to him and others 
who accompany us, as well as the crew, for much help in making 
the observations. 
These trawling experiments have been made annually for seven 
years, and the purpose of them, as you well know, was primarily to 
test the value of the 8-mile restriction to trawlers, — a restriction 
which came into force the year before the experiments were begun. 
It is regrettable that we have no comparative statistics of the yields 
of these bays in years prior to the adoption of the in-shore restric- 
tions, and before trawling began to deplete them. What we do 
know, and it seems fairly reliable, so far as memory can be reliable, 
I gave in the first report I had the honour to present to you — that 
for 1896. It tended to show that the in-shore waters, and, infer- 
entially, the deeper waters as well, were much richer in the most 
valuable fiat fishes in the pre steam-trawling days. With the great 
and marked increase in the improved method of catching fish, the 
imports and the value of fish landed rose rapidly every year. The 
area fished grew more and more extensive, until in these days not 
only the whole of the North Sea, but the North and West of 
Scotland and even Iceland are visited to aid in swelling our statis- 
tics. It is a consideration of this which forces many of us, scientific 
or not, to ask — is there a danger of over-fishing? It is believed 
that the increase in the catch is not at all commensurate with the 
high development in the means of fishing, the immense area now 
almost constantly worked upon, and the great increase in the number 
of boats and men. Still the steamers are being multiplied, and 
more men and more money are being enticed into the industry, and 
the trawlers at any rate are more than able to make it pay. Trawlers 
