Lankester, who initiated the movement, succeeded him. A large and well-equipped laboratory was erected at Plymouth, and formally opened for work in 1888. The work of the association has been maintained by annual grants of £400 from the Fishmongers’ Company and £1000 from H. M. treasury, and by the subscriptions of the members. The association publishes a half-yearly journal recording the results of its investigations.
In 1886 a fishery department of the Board of Trade was organized under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act of that year. The department publishes annually a return of statistics of sea-fish landed, a report on salmon fisheries (transferred from the home office), and a report on sea fisheries. It consists of several inspectors under an assistant secretary of the board; it has no power to make scientific investigations or bye-laws and regulations affecting the sea-fisheries. In 1894 the administration of the acts relating to the registration of fishing vessels, &c., was transferred to the fisheries department.
In 1888 the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act provided for the constitution (by provisional order of the Board of Trade) of local fisheries committees having, within defined limits, powers for the regulation of coast fisheries in England and Wales. The powers of district committees were extended under Part II. of the Fisheries Act 1891, and again under the Fisheries (Shell Fish) Regulation Act 1894. Sea-fisheries districts have now been created round nearly the whole coast of England and Wales. Under bye-laws of these committees steam-trawling has been prohibited in nearly all the territorial waters of England and Wales, and trawling by smaller boats has been placed under a variety of restrictions. Local scientific investigations have been initiated under several of the committees, especially in Lancashire by Professor Herdman of Liverpool and his assistants.
In 1890 an important survey of the fishing grounds off the west coast of Ireland was undertaken by the Royal Dublin Society, with assistance from the government, and in the hands of Mr E. W. L. Holt led to the acquisition of much valuable information concerning the spawning habits of fishes and the distribution of fish on the Atlantic seaboard.
In 1892, under powers conferred by the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act of 1889, the Fishery Board for Scotland closed the whole of the Moray Firth—including a large tract of extra-territorial waters—against trawling, in order to test experimentally the effect of protecting certain spawning grounds in the outer parts of the firth. The closure has given rise to a succession of protests from the leaders of the trawling industry in Aberdeen and England. It seems that the difficulty of policing so large an area, as well as the absence of any power to enforce the restriction on foreign vessels, have defeated the original intention; and the bye-law appears to be now retained mainly in deference to the wishes of the local line-fishermen, the decadence of whose industry—from economic causes which have been alluded to above—is manifest from the figures in Table X. below. The controversy has had the effect of causing the transference of a number of English trawlers to foreign flags, especially the Norwegian.
Statistics.—The following tables summarize the official statistics of fish landed on the coasts of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and give some information relative to the numbers of fishing-boats and fishermen in the three countries.
| Year. | Fish landed (excluding Shell-fish). |
Net Imports. |
Exports of British Fish. | |
1890 1895 1900 1905 |
Cwt. 12,774,010 14,068,641 14,671,070 20,164,276 |
£6,361,487 7,168,025 9,242,491 10,210,369 |
£2,315,572 2,453,676 2,937,486 2,250,259 |
£1,795,267 2,282,406 3,000,852 4,164,869 |
Note.—Imported fish afterwards re-exported (consisting chiefly of salted or cured fish to the value of over £900,000 in 1905) are not included in the above values of imports and exports. The exports consist mainly of herrings.
| Year. | Quantity (in Thousands of Cwt.). |
Average Price (per Cwt.). | ||||||||
| Sole. | Turbot. | Brill. | Plaice. | Halibut. | Sole. | Turbot. | Brill. | Plaice. | Halibut. | |
1890 1895 1900 1905 |
72.1 82.8 75.3 80.1 |
51.9 77.9 60.7 89.5 |
15.4 19.0 20.7 22.4 |
623 789 752 1074 |
95 114 136 120 |
£. s. 6 7 6 16 7 11 5 18 |
£. s. 3 13 3 17 4 3 3 11 |
£. s. 2 8 2 11 2 14 2 11 |
£. s. 0 19 1 1 1 4 0 19 |
£. s. 1 10 1 15 1 14 1 17 |
| Year. | Quantity (in Thousands of Cwt.). |
Average Price (per Cwt.). | ||||||||
| Cod. | Haddock. | Hake. | Ling. | Sundries. | Cod. | Haddock. | Hake. | Ling. | Sundries. | |
1890 1895 1900 1905 |
363 496 589 1423 |
1585 2433 2487 2148 |
. . 132 233 484 |
96 114 100 165 |
1151 1013 1190 1425 |
s. d. 13 10 12 5 14 8 12 4 |
s. d. 9 7 9 9 13 8 12 5 |
s. d. . . 16 2 15 10 13 4 |
s. d. 14 3 11 8 12 10 11 3 |
s. d. 14 0 13 7 14 10 9 8 |
| Year. | Quantity (in Thousands of Cwt.). |
Average Price (per Cwt.). | ||||||
| Mackerel. | Herring. | Pilchard. | Sprat. | Mackerel. | Herring. | Pilchard. | Sprat. | |
1890 1895 1900 1905 |
509 375 321 682 |
1332 1437 2425 3062 |
61 65 106 169 |
99 91 73 75 |
s. d. 15 5 16 3 15 9 8 11 |
s. d. 7 2 5 10 7 8 7 7 |
s. d. 5 10 5 3 4 6 5 0 |
s. d. 3 0 3 1 4 11 3 6 |
| Year. | Number. | Average Price. | ||||||
| Thousands. | Mills. | Thousands of Cwt. |
Per Hundred. | Per Cwt. | ||||
| Crabs. | Lobsters. | Oysters. | Sundries. | Crabs. | Lobsters. | Oysters. | Sundries. | |
1890 1895 1900 1905 |
4808 4501 5177 5106 |
922 677 654 503 |
47.6 25.3 37.8 35.4 |
505 590 539 423 |
£. s. 1 4 1 4 1 2 1 3 |
£. s. 4 18 4 8 4 7 4 15 |
s. d. 6 1 6 2 7 0 5 9 |
s. d. 5 0 4 11 5 8 5 6 |
| Year. | In Thousands of Cwt. | Cwt. | Number (Thousands). | ||||||||||
| Herring. | Lemon Sole. |
Flounder, Plaice, and Brill. |
Halibut. | Cod. | Ling. | Haddock. | Whiting. | Skale. | Mussels. | Crabs. | Lobsters. | Oysters. | |
| 1890 1895 1900 1905 |
3980 4077 3520 5343 |
17 19 21 31 |
81 80 102 56[1] |
20 20 26 36 |
449 459 434 677 |
170 165 157 151 |
754 1001 761 932 |
75 43 75 184 |
54 59 72 100 |
181 194 143 103 |
2882 2548 3128 1990 |
643 610 680 760 |
350 239 796 218 |
- ↑ Plaice only.
