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THE " HARVEST OF THE SEA " has been
a great success - not because it has sold so well that a third edition is
now called for, or that the critics and reviewers have praised it highly,
but because it has led to a continuous discussion of fishery economy ever
since the volume was issued from Albemarle Street, and has therefore, in
the best sense, fulfilled its "mission." All fishery subjects are now
discussed with calmness as well as increased knowledge; and the men who,
along with myself, ventured eight years ago to direct attention to what
was wrong, will never again be tabooed or written down as visionaries or
enthusiasts. Common sense has triumphed, and much in our fishery economy
that was wrong has been made right.
The present edition of the work has
been thoroughly revised. Much of the matter contained
in
the previous issues has been excised as being out of date or otherwise
unnecessary, and a considerable amount of new, and, I hope, interesting
information, gathered at home and abroad since its first, publication, is
included in the following pages. Every chapter of the book has been
carefully revised, and those chapters thought to be too long have been
divided, especially in cases where the natural and economic history of
particular fishes admitted of that being done. Recent official statistics
of the Scotch and Irish fisheries are included in this edition, and a new
chapter on Aquariums and Fishery Exhibitions has been interpolated, as
well as new stories of fisher life.
I have told over again in the
following pages the story of the herring-fishery - its blunders and
mistakes; and have shown how our salmon-fisheries have gradually improved
by means
of the wise legislation lately entered upon, and prefigured in the first
edition of this book. The year just closing has been an extraordinary one,
both as regards the capture of salmon and herring; but, despite of the
present abundance of these fish, we must not run away with the idea that
such plenty will occur year by year as a matter of course. Some persons
may be satisfied with the herring harvest of the present year, and it is
undoubtedly large, but I would ask regarding it this question----"Is the
take of these fish commensurate to the machinery employed in their
capture?" The large increase of salmon in the present year [1873] we can
understand; it is, as I have said, the fruit of wise legislation, and it
is gratifying to think that it is likely to continue. The same cannot,
however, be predicted of the herring, but we are entitled to ask what
there is to prevent our taking as many herrings every year as we have
caught during the season which has just expired. In a matter of such vital
importance to a country as the gathering of its herring harvest, which not
only contributes largely to the food resources of the nation, but affords
as well a large outlet for capital, and the employment of the population,
we cannot afford to make a mistake. If there are more herrings for us to
capture than we have hitherto been in the habit of taking, let us by all
means capture them, but if, on the other hand, we are over-fishing, let it
be known. We dare not by mal-economy lay waste an industry so productive
as the herring-fishery of Scotland.
It is fortunate that we can obtain
reliable statistics of the herring-fishery. To give us these statistics,
and to watch over the curing of the fish, is the business of the Scottish
Fishery Board, which a few of our radical Members of Parliament would
abolish, if they could. It is to be hoped they will never be able to do
so: that Board ought not to be abolished; on the contrary, its life ought
to be prolonged and its jurisdiction extended; it is one of the most
valuable Boards that the modern mania for centralisation has left to
Scotland. It is greatly to be regretted that the Fishery Board cannot take
cognisance and collect statistics of all the fisheries of Scotland. We
cannot obtain sufficient information with regard to the annual progress of
our haddock and cod fisheries, and in the face of the repeated assertions
which are annually published as to over-fishing, it is only by collecting
accurate statistics of the annual catch that we can determine the truth of
what is said. It is quite certain that we have a problem set before us, by
the correct solution of which we shall find out whether our fisheries are
progressing, standing still, or declining. It is not by means of one
year's great fishing that we can settle whether or no we have broken upon
our capital stock, or are living on its produce.
We ought then, as suggested above,
to have consecutive well-planned statistics, systematically gathered every
season noting the size of vessels and the extent of their fishing gear,
and these might be taken at all the chief ports. In the course of a few
years, were this done, we would possess a complete index to the state of
our fisheries, and should then be able to know, with exactitude, whether
our fish supplies were capable of indefinite extension or not. As regards
all fish about which we can obtain statistics, it can at once be seen that
man is able to affect the supplies. The salmon-fisheries in particular,
gave us a wonderful note of alarm, but the salmon being a proprietary fish
of great value, owners of fisheries were quick to scent the danger, and
prompt to obtain the necessary remedies; and now, so well is the economy
of our salmon rivers understood, that the lower proprietors have actually
begun to consider the rights of, and to conciliate, the upper proprietors
! What is a salmon-river without those tributary streams which afford a
safe home to the fish at that period of its life when it is most in need
of it; and whether the venue be laid in ScotIand or England, it is
absolutely necessary that the salmon should have breeding-ground.
We have still much to learn with
regard to fishery economy, although it is not easy to devise better modes
of fishing than those which now prevail. If we cast our nets into the
water, we must accept the fish they capture, whether they be good for food
or quite unfit for use. If we use trawl nets we must endure the
consequences, and when we cast our lines into the deep sea we cannot
dictate to the cod or haddocks as to their inclination to bite; in such
circumstances we can take only those fish that offer. But we say all the
living fish which are improperly taken, from being too small or in a
spawning condition, ought to be again restored to their watery home, and
left to be captured at some future date. And what is of still greater
importance, in Britain we ought to have a code of logically conceived
fishery laws, with proper officers to administer them. In England, at
present one department of government superintends the oyster-fisheries,
another rules over the herrings, and a third takes charge of the salmon !
In Scotland we have one Board of Fisheries, and in Ireland there is
another! but one Board of Fisheries ought to be sufficient; and the sooner
we have a Fisheries Reform Bill, the better it will be for those
interested in the fishing industries of Great Britain and Ireland.
305 ST. VINCENT STREET, GLASGOW,
October 31, 1873. |
