this distinction with the farmer, the pastoralist and the miner, he alone among them has no control over the material of his industry.

4. Like the hunter, he must go where his quarry congregates and is available. He finds it in the less deep portions of the oceans whither fish come for spawning or are attracted by the relative abundance of vegetable food on which they ultimately depend. The earth has its deserts and the sea its deeps and neither has, as yet, yielded food readily to man. The parts

*

of the seas searched by all fishing industries are almost entirely within the 200 fathom line and are chiefly in waters of less than 100 fathoms depth. The locations of the great fishing grounds of the world are thus determined primarily by the depth of the ocean bed. Restricted as are these shallow areas when compared with the wide sweep of the ocean, they are yet of great extent and except for the small portions forming territorial waters around the coast are open to the fishermen of all the world.

5. It is not every country bordering on the sea which has developed a fishing industry extending beyond its close inshore waters. The fishing population tends to stand apart from the general life of a country and especially is this true of those engaged in deep sea fisheries. Examples of this tendency are to be found even in the British Isles, where there are such widespread interests in matters connected with the sea. Even there, those who have developed the deep sea fisheries have in the main been drawn from the East or the South West Many of those engaged, for instance, in the trawler industry based on Milford Haven come from Yorkshire or East Anglia. Notwithstanding the long and indented coast line of Western Ireland, the few Irish trawlers based on Irish ports fish the seas between Ireland and England or off the South of Ireland. Even in North-East Scotland, the people of the Orkneys are mainly concerned with agriculture, whilst those of the Shetlands concentrate on fishing. Examples could be further multiplied. These serve to show that the existence of a fishing industry depends not only on the configuration of the neighbouring bed of the ocean, but also on the development of small sections of the population specialising in fishing.

The name plankton is given to the minute forms of plant and animal life in the sea which directly or indirectly form the food of all marine animal life. "The animal plankton lives at the expense of the vegetable plankton and thus "fish are finally dependent upon the existence of vegetable plankton for life. "These minute plants have the power to absorb the dissolved nitrogenous com"pounds, mineral saltsand carbon dioxide. Of the last two there is an abundance "in sea water. The factor limiting the growth of vegetable plankton is the "nitrogenous matter. The chief source of this is that carried in by the rivers. "Therefore marine life is more abundant near the shore, and especially near "the mouth of large rivers, other things being equal."-Tressler's-" Marine Products of Commerce."

6. The existence in a country of a fishing industry therefore depends on two factors:

(i) the propinquity of the country to profitable fishing grounds;

(ii) the existence among the population of a section specialising in fishing.

7. We will first consider the position of the different parts of Empire relatively to the fishing grounds of the world. We are indebted to the Admiralty for the map attached to this report. The most profitable fisheries are found in waters less. than 100 fathoms deep, since thereafter the depths of the ocean usually increase rapidly. The 200 fathom line is but little further out to sea, and as fishing does take place up to the 200 fathoms, the area within that line has been shown on the map. It marks for all practical purposes the present limits of the fishing grounds. It will be seen from this map that the largest fishing grounds are those in the North Atlantic, with its numerous inlets, in the North Pacific, off the South-East of the United States and east of Malaya, and off the Eastern shores both of Australia and the Argentine and the southern shores of South Africa. Different parts of the Empire are well placed for ready access to most of these grounds.

8. The temperature of the sea is of great importance in determining the distribution of marine fishes. For fishes that swim near the surface or that live on the coastal banks, the mean annual isotherms of the surface of the water may be used to define the boundaries of the zones of distribution, boundaries that are not to be regarded as rigid and sharply defined, but rather as indicating the regions where there is a transition from one fauna to another. The tropical zone, bounded by the isotherms of 20° C., has a multitude of species that are peculiar to it, especially sea perches, wrasses, and other spiny-rayed fishes mostly belonging to groups that are but sparsely represented in the warmer parts of the temperate zones. South of the tropics the isotherms of 12° C. and 6° C. have been used to divide the South Temperate Zone into sub-tropical and subantarctic parts and to bound the Antarctic zone. The fishes of Antarctica and South Georgia are different from those of the Falklands, and these again differ from those of the Cape. The difference between the sub-tropical Cape fish fauna and the tropical fish fauna of Natal is very striking.

6° C. 43° Fahr.; 12° C. = 54° Fahr.; 20° C.

=

=

68°Fahr.

9. In the Northern Hemisphere the currents are deflected to a greater extent by the land masses, the seasonal fluctuations are

NOTE. These isotherms are shown on the map in their approximate mean annual position as given to us by Mr. C. Tate Regan, M.A., F.R.S., Director of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, to whom we owe thanks for much assistance.

greater and the zones are less well-defined. But the same isotherms may be used, and have some value. Thus the isotherm of 12° C. runs to the mouth of the English Channel, a region where many northern fishes, such as cod, haddock, plaice and herring become scarce and where sub-tropical species, such as the pilchard, begin to become abundant.

10. Although each region has its peculiarities, it is interesting to note that there are a number of genera absent from the tropics that are represented in both the north and south temperate zones. Thus the pilchard or sardine of Europe is represented by related forms-in the waters of Japan, California, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, that is, generally between the 12° and 20° isotherms. The hake genus has a somewhat similar distribution. But the more northerly species of the cod and flatfish groups that support the great commercial fisheries are not represented in southern waters; and, indeed, in the regions south of the isotherm of 12° C. the grounds suitable for such fish are very limited in area.

11. The similarity in the kinds of fish available on the two sides of the Atlantic is strikingly illustrated by the landings in 1925 in Great Britain and on the eastern coast of Canada respectively. In that year cod, herring, haddock and hake accounted for seventy-six per cent. of the total landings in Great Britain and seventy-nine per cent. of the total landings at ports in Eastern Canada. Further the salmon of Newfoundland, Labrador and Eastern Canada is of the same species as that found in the rivers of Scotland. Thus, the fish on each side of the North Atlantic in this zone are substantially the same.

If we consider the way in which the fishing grounds lie round the North Atlantic, from the Continental shelf west of Ireland by the Irish Sea and English Channel to the North Sea, to the great shoals north of Norway, to the shoals off Iceland and Greenland, to the Davis Straits, and finally to the Great Banks off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, it will be seen that they constitute a single group of grounds. For this geographical reason and because of the similarity of the fish we shall regard these fishing grounds as a single group in our report.

12. The fisheries of the North Atlantic have a long history, and as a result have been developed and organised to a degree unparalleled in the rest of the world, notwithstanding the very fruitful fisheries of the North Pacific. The countries most concerned in the North Atlantic fisheries are the British Isles, France, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Newfoundland, Canada and the New England States of the United States.

Of all these countries, the British Isles, Newfoundland and the Peninsula of Nova Scotia are the most favourably placed in that they are thrown out towards one another in the midst of the fishing grounds.

13. The Empire is well supplied with men with the aptitude and inclination for the successful exploitation of these fruitful grounds, which is the second requisite for the establishment of a vigorous fishing industry. In Great Britain 50,000 men are permanently engaged in catching fish almost entirely from the deep seas. Another 15,000 engage in fishing as an occasional employment. In the Maritime Provinces on the Eastern seaboard of Canada and in Quebec 37,000 men are engaged in inshore fisheries. In Newfoundland, fishing, almost entirely inshore, affords occupation to the greater portion of the population, and the numbers engaged in it either solely or as part time reach 32,840. Thus on each side of the large Atlantic fishing grounds are populations in the same Empire comparable in numbers, and though pursuing different methods, engaged primarily and often solely in fishing.

14. Recent history has shown the advantage to the Empire of a flourishing fishing industry. In times of peace a fishing population forms the basis for a mercantile marine and keeps alive the sea sense so important for the peoples of a widelyspread Empire. In times of war it is able to render immediate assistance. Thus, at the outbreak of the Great War steam trawlers were at once available for use as mine sweepers, and ultimately 3,021 trawlers and drifters were taken over by the Admiralty, whilst 58,000 fishermen were enlisted from Great Britain. The aptitude developed by the Newfoundland fishermen in managing boats also found its use in the Royal Navy. Newfoundlanders were largely employed as boats' crews for boarding vessels for examination. The exploitation by the people of the Empire of the fishing grounds of the world is thus of importance to all parts of the Empire, far beyond the increase in the food supplies which may result from their efforts.

III.-Two Important Facts.

15. We find it necessary at the outset to refer to two facts of general importance which govern all considerations connected with the development of a fishing industry :—

(a) the limits, if any, to the total supplies of fish in the

sea;

(b) the extreme perishability of fish after capture.

16. Fears have frequently been entertained lest the supplies of fish in particular seas should fail through overfishing, and doubts have been expressed concerning the period for which particular seas can continue to yield their present bounteous harvests. For instance, one million tons of fish are taken annually from the North Sea. Can this go on for ever? Cases have occurred, especially in regard to inshore fishing in which supplies have failed. Cases have occurred in which particular kinds of fish have partially deserted their customary grounds for years, only to return later as numerously as ever. There are

strong reasons for believing that the supplies of certain particular kinds of fish on certain grounds have deteriorated, if not in numbers, yet certainly in size. We shall refer to some of the more important of these instances in our report. But after making full allowance for all such cases there is no indication that the limit of fish which the seas as a whole may yield is in sight. The waters now fished have been fished for centuries and are still productive. More distant waters are being exploited than was possible fifty years ago, but their capacity is not yet fully tested. There are still other waters which are only occasionally visited. Thus, in the seas as a whole there is still a great reserve of grounds which can be exploited.

17. This furnishes a contrast between the possible supplies of fish to the world and the possible supplies of wheat and meat. Most of the possible corn and pasture lands are now known and occupied. Increased crops of grain and meat will have to be obtained by more intensive, that is, by more expensive, methods In regard to fisheries, there are still large areas either not fished or only partially fished which, in case of need, could be made of more service to man. If these can be opened out cheaply fish may, for reasons of price alone, become a more important article of diet than it is at present.

18. Any limit to the supply of fish brought to land is not due to a failure of the total stock of fish in the sea or to lack of ability to catch fish. The application of steam power to fishing vessels has rendered all the fishing grounds open to fishing, and the modern means for catching appear adequate. The limit is set by the means available for preserving fish when caught, for improvements in methods of preservation have not kept pace with those in catching.

The chief economic considerations in any improvement or extension of the fish industry are associated with the problem of bringing fish to market in good condition, in regular supply and at economic cost. On the solution of these problems hinges. the practicability of winning from the sea the greater harvests it can yield, and it is to these that we have devoted our attention.

IV.-Production of Fisheries in the Empire.

19. An estimate of the total value of the sea fish landed each year throughout the Empire cannot be given, as no figures are available for the catches in tropical waters. The present annual value, at the ports, of the fish brought to shore by the fishing industries of Great Britain and the Dominions is, according to the calculations of the Departments of the different Governments, in the neighbourhood of £34 millions. Of this sum about £31 millions is the value of fish caught in the North Atlantic and North Pacific by Empire fishermen operating from the British Isles, Canada and Newfoundland.