Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 137.djvu/670

664 which were carefully registered by the Professor, and summarised in a valuable paper, printed in the Appendix to the Commissioners' Report.

The presence of this paper, and its accompanying register, is a feature in the evidence of the late Commission. The previous Commission had proceeded entirely upon unscientific evidence, such as that of fishermen and others practically acquainted with the question. In the present case, however, the Commissioners were able to test and compare all such statements with the actual results of trawling as studied by an impartial person trained to habits of observation. It is true that the short duration of these experiments prevents their being conclusive in a scientific sense; but as a rough test of the effects of trawling, it cannot be denied that they greatly strengthen the report of the Commissioners. The only other experiments of a like character in the history of the trawling question, are those that were carried out in Galway Bay under the Irish Fishery Board during the years 1873-76. The results of these, in important points, agree, it is satisfactory to learn, with those obtained by Professor M'Intosh.

Quitting, then, the materials from which the Commissioners have drawn their conclusions on the question of the decrease of the fish-supply, we will now proceed to those conclusions themselves.

The Commissioners of 1866 and 1878, as has been mentioned in an earlier part of this paper, came to the conclusion that no decrease was visible in the supply of fish on our coasts. This consoling view is not, we regret to say, altogether borne out by the report we are now considering. That report says, paragraph 16: –

"After carefully considering the whole evidence upon the question of the decrease of fish, we are of opinion that –

"As regards territorial waters –

"(1.) On many fishing-grounds, from the Moray Firth to Grimsby, there has been a falling off in the takes of flat-fish, both as regards quantity and quality.

"(2.) There has also been a decrease in the takes of haddock in certain places, chiefly in bays and estuaries.

"As regards offshore waters –

"(3.) No decrease, except in the case of soles, has been proved on the total takes of the North Sea."

The conclusions of the Commissioners as to the decrease of haddock and flat-fish are based upon the almost universal testimony of the fishermen, confirmed by the result of Professor M'Intosh's observations. As regards the soles, the evidence was mainly that of the trawlers themselves, this kind of fish being taken solely by the trawl-net.

Now, looking at these conclusions for a moment, apart from any cause to which they are attributed, they point undoubtedly towards a serious fact, and one that demands the careful consideration of the Government. Up to the present time all sea-fishery legislation has been based upon the theory that there are more fish in the sea than ever came out of it. In the light of this axiom, all methods of sea-fishing have been free, and the sea within the territorial waters has been looked upon as the property of the nation.

But if it be shown that, owing to the indiscriminate use of any method of fishing, or to the want of a close-time for any species of fish, or to any other cause, there is an undoubted diminution in that supply which has always been considered inexhaustible, it is clear that we must reconsider our posi-