the past few years and an estimate of the present condition of the fisheries are necessary.

From time immemorial, sea fishing has been a recognised means of livelihood for a large number of seafaring and longshore men; but, like many another industry, commercial sea fishing showed relatively little progress until the introduction of two modern features-steam and the capitalist. Since that time, about thirty-five years ago, a change has taken place which is nothing short of revolutionary. In commercial fishing naturally every effort is made to catch as much fish in as short a space of time and with as little expense as possible, regardless of what the consequences may be; and since, as the nearer grounds became exhausted, virgin grounds further from the home ports have been exploited with success, the industry has, up to the present at any rate, so far as the gross weights and values of fish landed are concerned, shown a steady and progressive advance. How far this will continue in the future is to a large extent a matter for speculation. In this article we intend to review the growth and tendencies of the industry and to outline the legislation which the facts established by science show to be requisite.

The progress of the sea fisheries during recent years is illustrated, mainly from the statistical side, in the annual reports of the various Government Departments concerned. For England and Wales the central fisheries authority is the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, which publishes annually a 'Report of Proceedings under Acts relating to the Sea Fisheries.' No indecent haste marks the appearance of these reports, that for 1909 appearing in September 1911, that for 1910 early in 1912, that for 1911 in August 1912. For Scotland the central authority is the Fishery Board, which also publishes an Annual Report. In Ireland there are two authorities, the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, and the Congested Districts Board; the former body administers fisheries in the non-congested, the latter body in the congested areas. Statistical information on the sea fisheries of the whole of Ireland is contained in the Annual Report of the Department. A comparison of the statistical returns of fish landed in the British Isles during 1911 with the returns for 1885,

the first year in which fishery statistics for England and Wales were systematically collected by the Board of Trade, shows that the weights and values are practically double what they were. In 1885 the weight of fish landed was 580,000 tons and the value just above 6,000,000l., whereas in 1911 the weight was nearly 1,180,000 tons and the value exceeded 11,400,0007.

All modern methods of sea fishing on a commercial scale may conveniently be grouped under one of the three following heads: (1) a method involving the use of a movable or drag net, the highest modern development of which is the trawl; (2) a method involving the use of a fixed or drift net; (3) the use of baited hooks attached to lines. While there are other methods employed for the capture of sea fish, such as weirs or stake-nets, it may be said that they are negligible as a means of supplying the markets of our huge industrial centres, and that, but for the three methods indicated above, the taste of fresh sea fish would be unknown to the majority of the population of these islands. Fishermen may therefore be divided into trawlers, drifters and liners; and, since the interests of these three classes are to some extent opposed, it is found that the history of the sea fisheries records a good deal of animosity between the various groups-an animosity which has not been without effect on legislation. At one time, and that not a very remote one, the fisherman of our coasts did not devote himself exclusively to any one branch of fishing; but with the coming of steam-power and the capitalist a remarkable change has occurred. The jersey-clad fisherman of independent and picturesque type, so favourite a theme with artists and poets, who with his little sailing craft exploited the waters within reach of his native village, is rapidly disappearing. In his place we have the 'deck hand' who mans the steamship owned by a limited liability company. This 'deckie' with his bowler' hat and clogs has usually no more knowledge of seamanship than a ploughboy. Forty years ago the bulk of the fish consumed in the British Isles or exported from our shores was caught either in the North Sea or in the immediate neighbourhood of our shores by sailing vessels. Since that time the gradual ousting of sail by steam has taken place, and at the same time the area

of exploitation has been largely extended. One of the results is that nowadays sea fishing is a highly technical occupation, so much so that a fisherman is usually only acquainted with one method of fishing and often with only a particular part of that method. On modern steam vessels it not infrequently happens that the master alone knows how to navigate the vessel and to manipulate the fishing gear; the 'hands' merely obey his commands.

To understand the broad outlines of the problem it is necessary to consider the different classes of fishermen and the manner in which they have been affected by modern developments. Generally speaking, the fisheries and fishermen of the British Isles fall naturally into three main divisions. In the first place there are the steam fisheries. Both trawling and drifting are carried on by steam-vessels owned by companies. This is the most wasteful and destructive method of fishing-wasteful because the ratio of expenses to returns is very high, and destructive because of the large percentage of undersized fish unavoidably caught, at any rate by trawling.

Secondly, there are the deep-sea sailing fisheries. These comprise both trawlers and drifters, and both classes have been very much influenced by the steamers. In England there are few ports where the sailing vessel predominates. Brixham, however, harbours many sailing trawlers; and sailing drifters can be seen at Lowestoft. The only advantage which the sailing vessel possesses is the relatively small expense, more particularly when the skipper of the deep-sea smack has a direct pecuniary interest in the profits earned. Possibly the introduction of some type of marine motor may save this class of vessel from extinction. Motors would save much time in going to and returning from the fishing-grounds, as they could be used in dead calm weather and would frequently save a tide, often a supreme consideration in reaching the market in the case of a perishable commodity like fish. It is true that most of these vessels now carry ice for the preservation of their catch, but nevertheless the timesaving element would be of importance. On the fishinggrounds themselves a motor would frequently be of assistance in beating up to windward, so that the trawl might be shot in a favourable position for dragging.' The

importance to the nation of seamen trained in this school is so self-evident as hardly to need mention, but it is only in England that the central authority has not stirred a finger to save them from extinction. In both Scotland and Ireland, as will be seen, efforts are being made which, without unduly interfering with other classes of fishermen, should secure to these a reasonable livelihood.

Thirdly, there are the inshore fisheries proper, carried on almost exclusively inside the territorial waters, partly by landsmen or longshoremen ignorant of boat-handling and all its intricacies, partly by real seamen and fishermen whose management of their open or half-decked boats commands the admiration of everyone who has come into contact with them. This class of fisherman does not come into direct competition, at least to any appreciable extent, with the first two classes, and probably has little to fear from them, except that the increase of steam-trawling in restricted areas such as the Welsh bays is bound to produce a permanent diminution on the inshore fishing-grounds. It is rather the middleman, the so-called 'commission agent,' who is the greatest enemy of men of this class. These inshore fishermen capture as a rule as much shellfish as fish proper. Often they use trawl, line, or drift nets for sea fish, but a not inconsiderable portion of their livelihood depends on the inhabitants of the shore-shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters, cockles, mussels, periwinkles and the like. To some extent the remoteness of these small fisheries has saved them from extinction. Often the fishermen themselves or their wives and families hawk their fish in the neighbouring towns and villages, and so obtain the retail instead of the wholesale price for their catch. In the little village of Banks near Southport there is a very prosperous community of cocklers who flourish by this means, while practically every other community of cocklers with which the writer is acquainted, lives either wholly or periodically under conditions of extreme poverty.

Of the various implements of fishing the trawl is undoubtedly the most important. Briefly, the trawl is a conical bag of netting dragged along the bottom of the sea by a vessel moving at from two to six miles an hour. The trawl will capture any species of fish living on or near the sea bottom. The second chief method of fishing

-drift-netting-is on the contrary only designed to catch one species, usually either herring or mackerel, and that not on the bottom, but while swimming near the surface. Drift-netting is carried on by both steamers and sailing vessels. The drift-net is supported on a line carrying cork floats, which is in turn attached to ropes and buoys supporting the net at a varying depth from the surface. Reduced to its simplest definition, the drift-net is a completely submerged vertical wall of netting. In Scotland a considerable quantity of demersal fish is still captured by means of long lines to which baited hooks are attached. These lines may be several miles in length. At regular intervals 'the snoods'-pieces of line from two to three feet long-are attached to the main line, and the snoods carry the hooks. The long line is usually shot at night and fished in the morning, its position at sea being marked by buoys. The statistics of the white-fish fishing in Scotland show how the trawler is gradually supplanting the liner; and it must not be forgotten that it is largely as a measure of protection for this and other classes of coastal fishing that the policy of closing Scottish firths to trawling has been advocated for many years by the Scottish Fishery Board.

A new factor has been introduced into fishery reckoning during the last few years through the capture of large quantities of herring by steam-trawlers. Hitherto these fish had been looked upon as a monopoly of the drifter. Trawling for herrings by means of the ordinary otter-trawl used from a steam-trawler began in the first years of the present century, and its inception was due to the enterprise of the fishermen of Milford Haven and Fleetwood. In 1911 this feature of the herring fishery developed enormously, and its rapid extension so alarmed the drift-netters that an agitation was started against it, an agitation which has resulted in the appointment of the Committee of Inquiry by Mr Asquith. Trawling for herring is carried on in daylight, and the best hauls are made at midday. At night this method of fishing is not successful, as the herrings rise to the surface in the dark, when they are caught in the drift-nets. When trawling the steamers go at full speed; and the fastest steamers are the most successful. Trawling for herring was first extensively employed on the grounds stretching from