66 
crabs has certainly not so much to recommend it as the close time 
which many of the Northumberland fishermen have desired and the 
Committee have hitherto failed to secure. 
Nothing of a constructive nature has hitherto been tried with 
regard to crabs. As matters are at present it has nothing to be 
said in its favour. The berried crab is already sufficiently pro- 
tected. Hatching alone without rearing would be an entirely futile 
performance, as is apparent from the considerations advanced in 
the preceding section, and the rearing would have to be done on a 
scale which is not as yet demanded. 
It has already been stated that further improvement with 
regard to the lobster fishery could only be made through the 
berried female. It is not likely, though desirable, that much further 
good would result through the berried lobster being protected for 
the year. And as a matter of fact the protection now given has 
been found to be a heavy demand upon the gains of the fishermen, 
so much so that it is now a far too general practice along the coast 
for the men to strip the lobster of its berries, and land and sell it. 
A constructive method of improvement is therefore worth con- 
sidering. The eggs of the lobster have been successfully hatched 
in hatcheries in this and other countries, and with reference to this 
enquiry I have to thank the directors and others for much valuable 
information as to the work of these establishments. A special 
report on the subject having been circulated among the members 
of the Northumberland Committee I have not now, however, to 
refer to this information in detail, but the following brief considera- 
tion of the question is necessary to complete the present state- 
ment. 
The small survival after hatching shows only too plainly that 
hatching alone is foredoomed to failure. It is more than probable 
indeed that the already high death rate of the pelagic stage would 
be greatly increased from the manner of liberation of the fry, but 
if rearing be possible with a fair percentage of survival to a stage 
which has yet to be decided as being the most economical, there 
can be no doubt that lobster culture could be made to improve the 
resources of such a district as ours. This has for many years been 
recognised in the United States, and experiments resulting in a 
survival of about 50 per cent, to the demersal stage have been made 
on a large scale. The hatchery at Port Erin has been equally 
successful. Much valuable information has been gained at the 
same time as to apparatus and feeding. 
