Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/368

336 totally without financial support from public or private bodies. I have to keep it going by my work in micro, and lantern departments, and, being without financial backing of any kind, you can imagine how uphill the work is." The official publication is 'The Journal of Marine Zoology and Microscopy,' edited by Mr. Hornell, of which two volumes have now been completed. In the last issue the Editor has contributed a most interesting paper on "The Possibilities of Fishery Improvement in Jersey." The inshore fishermen, such as we have in Jersey, the men who fish in small undecked boats, 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 Boulogne, and the foremost authority on pisciculture in France, writes: — "In the eastern portion of the English Channel, the majority 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 abandoned." 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. So well authenticated and so well recognized by the fishers themselves is this decadence in Jersey, that it requires little or no demonstration from me. Indeed, in view of the absence of local statistics as to catches, it is impossible of verification in figures. However, I have the authority of our best-informed fishermen for stating definitely that a diminution of 30 per cent, to 40 per cent, has been observable in their catches of many of the most important of our local fishes during recent years, such as Sand-eels, Gras-dos (Smelts), Gurnard, Conger, Whiting, Sarde (Red Bream), Flat-fishes, &c, to say nothing of the dead Oyster and Ormer fisheries, or of Black Breams and Lobsters, about which we have statistics, definite and incontrovertible. The decrease which is caused by actual scarcity of the fish themselves is most marked in the catches of the Flat-fishes generally (Plaice, Soles, Turbots, &c), the Bream, Sand-eels, Gras-dos, and Lobsters; in the case of the larger Round-fishes, such as the Whiting and the Conger, the cause is probably due to the marked decrease in the supply of bait available in Jersey, especially so in the case of the Squids (Sepia and Loligo), and of the 'red-cat' bait-worms (Nereis). Seven or eight years ago Plaice of large size were common in the large bays, measuring some fourteen inches long on the average; to-day such fine fish are extremely rare, and our market depends for its supply upon imports from Plymouth, Lowestoft, and Grimsby. It is significant to notice that the decline in Plaice coincides with the sudden increase in the use of set-nets and draw-nets in our bay that occurred a few years ago."