The basis for legislation on fishery questions

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FISHERIES fXHIBITION

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BASIS ror LEGISLATION

FISHERY QUESTIONS

BY

LIEUT.-COLONEL FRANCISCO GARCIA SOLA

SECRETARY OF THE SPANISH COMMISSION AT THE
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION

. LONDON
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION
AND 13 CHARING CROSS, S.W.

PRICE SIXPENCE

PAPERS or THE CONFERENCES _

Held in connection with the GREAT INTERNATIONAL
| FISHERIES EXHIBITION.

NOW READY.
Demy 8vo., in Illustrated Wrapper. Price Sixpence each.
INAUGURAL MEETING: ADDRESS. By Professor Huxtey, P.R.S.

H.R.H. the Prince or WALEs (P-esident of the Commission) in the Chair.

NOTES ON THE SEA FISHERIES AND FISHING POPULATION
OF THE UNILED KINGDOM. By H.R.H tHe Duke of Epinsurcu, K.G. 1s.

THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. By Pro-
fessor Brown Goong, M.A. ;

OYSTER CULTURE AND OYSTER FISHERIES IN THE NETHER-
LANDS. By Professor HUBRECHT,. ’

PRINCIPLES OF FISHERY LEGISLATION. By Right Hon. G. Suaw-
Lerevre, M.P.

ON THE CULTURE OF SALMONIDAE AND THE ACCLIMA-
TISATION OF FISH. By Sir James Ramsay Gipson MairTranp, Bart.

FISH DISEASES. By Professor HUXLEY, P.R.S.

THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF FISHERMEN, By Professor LEONE

Levi.

THE FISHERIES OF CANADA. By L. Z. Joncas.

PRESERVATION OF FISH LIFE IN RIVERS BY THE EXCLU-
SION OF TOWN SEWAGE. By the Hon. W. F. B. MasszEy MAINWARING.

MOLLUSCS, MUSSELS, WHELKS, &c., USED FOR FOOD OR BAIT.
By Cuarves HarpDING.

COARSE FISH CULTURE. By R. B. Marsron.

ON THE FOOD OF FISHES. By Dr. F. Day.

THE HERRING FISHERIES OF SCOTLAND. By R. W. Durr, M.P.

LINE FISHING. By C. M. MuNDAHL,

FISH TRANSPORT AND FISH MARKETS.” By His Excellenay SPENCER

WALPOLE.

FOREST PROTECTION AND TREE CULTURE ON WATER
FRONTAGES. By D. HowiTz, Esq.

SEAT, FISHERIES. By Captain TEMPLE.

FISH AS FOOD. By Sir Henry THompson.

STORM WARNINGS. By R. H. Scort.

ON THE DESTRUCTION OF. FISH AND OTHER AQUATIC
ANIMALS BY INTERNAL PARASITES. By Professor Cosnotp, F.R.S., F.L.S.

SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE EXHIBITION. By Professor E. Ray

LANKESTER.

A ek FISHERY SOCIETY FOR GREAT BRITAIN. By
. iL. DRYER.

CRUSTACEANS. By T. Cornisu.
TRAWLING. By ALFRED ANSELI.

THE BASIS FOR LEGISLATION ON FISHERY QUESTIONS. By
Lieut.-Col. F. G. Sox.

IN THE PRESS.
SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES. By Davip MiLnz Homg, F.R.S.E.
PILCHARD AND MACKEREL FISHERIES. By T. Cornisu.
FRESH-WATER FISHING (other than Salmon). By J.P. WHEELDON.
ARTIFICIAL CULTURE OF LOBSTERS. By W. SAvittr Kent.

ON FACILITIES FOR THE IMPROVED CAPTURE AND ECO-
NOMIC TRANSMISSION OF SE ; EC
IRISH FISHERIES. By R.F. Watsn, a eae. Mg

THE FISHERIES OF IRELAND. By J. C. BLoomFrELp.
THE FISHERIES OF OTHER COUNTRIES. By Commissioners for

Sweden, Norway, Spain, &c., who took part in the Conference.

LONDON: WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS, Limirep,
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION, & 13, CHARING CROSS.

{

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21]
G21 International Fisheries Exhibition
1 9e2 LONDON, 1883
ee ee
THE

Paols FOR. LEGISLATION

FISHERY QUESTIONS”

BY

LIEUT.-COLONEL FRANCISCO GARCIA SOLA

SECRETARY OF. THE SPANISH COMMISSION AT THE
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION

LONDON
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION
AND 13 CHARING CROSS, S.W.
1883

“LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limirep,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

Lnternatonal Fisheries FEexhibition,
LONDON, 1883.

CONFERENCE ON THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1603,

His Excellency the Marquis DE CASA-LAIGLESIA, the
Spanish Minister, in the Chair.

THE BASIS FOR LEGISLATION ON
FISHERY QUESTIONS. _

WHEN we speak of the depletion, or complete exhaustion
of fisheries, it must be understood that these terms are not
used in an absolute sense, but only so far as they affect the
supply for the use of mankind, or, in other words, the output
of the industry. The quantity of fish may be diminished
in two ways, in the one case, when the catch exceeds the
reproduction, and in the other, when the fish are frightened
away from the haunts of the fishermen. I quite agree with
the views so often expressed as to the difficulties which
have hitherto stood in the way of a proper study of the life
and habits of the inhabitants of the sea, which is the only
thing that would conduce to an early solution of the
problem ; but the experience gained from ascertained facts
concerning fisheries, throws enough light to induce a
conclusion, in any rational mind, in one or the other
direction. ;

With regard to sedentary species, I do not think there is
the least doubt that these caw be exhausted by being
overfished, or by improper methods of fishing, since it is

[29] Bis

4

clear that if a natural oyster-bed, for example, be dredged
constantly and no time left for its reproduction, it will
amount to the same thing as if one repeatedly dredged
stones or other inert material—that is the bottom would at
last be perfectly clear of them.

Such an obvious argument as this needs no confirmation,
but if any such confirmation were needed, we might cite
what has occurred on the north-west coasts of Spain, where,
until the beginning of the present century, so great was the
quantity of oysters in the beds that they were sold at four
cuartos, or a little more than one penny per hundred, while
the present price averages 12 pesetas or Qs. 7d. for the same
quantity. Even if we take into account the small con-
sumption at that time, owing to defective means of
communication, this circumstance is insufficient to explain
the enormous difference just mentioned, which points clearly
to the complete exhaustion of the beds.

With regard to species which lead a more or less
migratory existence, there cannot be the least doubt that if
man had complete control over the area occupied by each,
the same principle of more fish being caught than could be
reproduced would lead to exhaustion likewise ; what has to
be determined is, how far man has such control in a given
locality. The old fishermen of the Mediterranean relate that
they remember having seen in their boyhood, species which
they do not see now, but we need not attach any great
importance to such a statement, until we have the means
of ascertaining whether the fish have gone out to deep
waters, but if there should be no communication between
two seas, and they were really exhausted under certain
conditions, this fact would of itself prove the theory of
exhaustion just propounded. The case is, however, different

with the ocean, the immensity of which makes extermination

~

=)

impossible except in the case of fish whose nature leads
them to resort to the shore for spawning purposes or for
food.

This immensity and the impervious conditions of the
element in which fish live, throw such obscurity over their
mysterious life that it is not possible to pronounce an
opinion upon this question, except so far as we are in a
position to do so from observations made from the coast
and its surrounding waters, and even then the comparisons
must extend over long periods of time. It is well known
that both on land and sea many species of animals have
entirely disappeared, and their fossil remains alone come
down to confirm historical references. But without going
back to such early times, we may refer to the great
diminution in the number of whales within the present
century, a diminution probably more owing to the voracity
of other aquatic animals than to overfishing by man.

We can also cite the diminution of the smaller species in
proof of our assertion, the tunny, for example, as referred to
by ancient historians. Strabo and Pliny both call attention
to the enormous quantities of this fish caught by the
Phceenicians, and the arm of the sea near Constantinople
owes its designation of the Golden Horn to the immense
wealth which the Byzantines drew up from it in the shape
of tunnies, and lastly, Caio Plinio mentions the fact of the
fleet of Charles the Great encountering a shoal of tunnies
which altogether impeded his progress. In much later
times the reports of the erudite Father Sarmiento give
particulars as to this fishery, from which we can judge of
its decline ; the reports showing much greater quantities
than those now obtained.

The tunny is a migratory fish living in the deep sea, and
returning every year to the eastern parts of the Mediterra-

6

nean, at the same season, to spawn, following the line of the
European continent when it arrives, and on its return after
spawning, taking the coast of Africa and passing on through
the Straits of Gibraltar to the Atlantic.

Now it will be easy to explain the diminution of this fish
since historic times, by the fact that of the great quantities
which enter the Mediterranean to spawn some are caught
by the fishermen after spawning, but the great majority
before fulfilling this function. How then can we conclude
that the cause of this diminution is not owing to the action
of man?

It is quite true that many centuries may elapse before
the complete extinction of a migratory species from the
vast expanse of the main; perhaps before this exhaustion
takes place some of those abnormal conditions may occur
in the history of our planet which will disturb the essential
conditions of the history of those species, but even in this re-
mote contingency we must not lose sight of the fact that the
biological regions are not unlimited, and that every species
seeks out its abode where nature and its kindred elements
have produced the required conditions, some species being
only able to live in low temperature, others in high ones,
some again cannot live in estuaries, and those species which
are limited by temperature are again subdivided into others
separated by the pressure of the waters, some being obliged
to live at a great depth compared with others, and among
other limitations there is the question of food and shelter,
the appropriate motion of the currents ; and lastly, that the
depletion be not carried to such an extent as to prejudice
food-supply, and thus be the first step towards an end of the
industry.

It is now time to enter on the second head of the theory
propounded. We have said that the depletion of the

7

fisheries or their complete exhaustion is not referred to in
its absolute sense, but only in the sense of their use for
mankind, and from this point of view let us demonstrate
the most practical point, viz., that in which fish are compelled
to abandon places which are within the reach of fishermen.

It is not the opinion of Spanish fishermen exclusively
that the sea fisheries are inexhaustible, but it is an idea
that gains general credence; they know the fabulous
reproductive power of fishes, they contemplate the huge
expanse the fish live in, which they suppose to be full of
the species they try to catch; they compare these spaces
and their enormous population with those actually taken,
and the distance run, then, without troubling their heads
further on the matter, jump to the firm conviction that
fisheries are inexhaustible. They let down their nets into’
the sea eager to gather in the fruits of their precarious
calling, only to draw them up empty, try a second and
third time with the same result, and then return home to
think on the bad issue of their day’s toil; and when this is
repeated day after day they attribute it all to the variation
of currents, to atmospheric influences, to the noise of
artillery on vessels and on shore, to the transit of steam
ships through the fishing grounds, to epidemics among the
fish, to caprices of fortune, to witchcraft, and, in fine, to
anything and everything, rather than the destruction
caused by an overworking of the fisheries.

Sometimes a more thoughtful individual attributes this to
the method of working the fishing tackle, he notices that
the drag nets in sweeping the bottom bring to the surface
rooted up vegetation which serves as pasture for one species,
as shelter for another, and as a nursery for the young of
others, and also observes that among the entangled herbage

are myriads of germs and young fry macerated by the

8

dragging ; he counts up the grand total of individuals
destroyed by such a proceeding, and then reflects on the
enormous quantity represented by the wholesale destruc-
tion of so oft repeated a system among all maritime nations,
and then arrives at his conclusion as to the part man plays
in the depletion of fisheries, and if he knows too that the
shallow bottoms in proximity to the shore are the necessary
spawning places of many species, he can entertain no doubt
that the present methods of fishing are disastrous.

Not being able to entertain any principle not sanctioned
by practice, let us next examine what in their essentials are
these fishing utensils used in different numbers and slight
variations of detail in nearly every country. They consist
of two bands of net, with a bag or sack of the same
material but of much closer texture, the borders or lower
ropes of the sack being provided with leads throughout
their length, to insure the sinking of the net, and on the
upper ropes are attached cork or other material of a
lighter specific gravity than water to cause them to float, by
this means keeping the nets vertical and the mouth of the
sack open. The net thus reaches the bottom of the sea,
and at the extremity of both bands there are attached
two cords, generally of great length, by which the apparatus
is dragged on shore by one or two boats, according to the
class to which it belongs.

Hence it will be seen that these nets can only be used
on flat bottoms without stones or other obstacles to catch
them. The net in its passage roots up the vegetation
which grows in such places and hauls them to the surface
or on shore ; these are found entangled in the net in great
quantities, and with them during the spawning season of
those species which spawn along the shore one encounters
among the seaweed multitudes of eggs more or less

)

developing, and young fish crushed completely by the
movement of the apparatus. That these facts reveal an
enormous quantity of fish destroyed in repeated castings
there should arise no sort of doubt, and the same thing has
been seen by me on various occasions in the doz or chalut,
which is worked by boats in the Mediterranean and in the
southern ocean of Spain, as well as in the jédegas and
boliches, which drag from land throughout the Spanish
continent whenever they find suitable localities. I have
seen more than this. I have seen in the Gulf of Valencia
drawn up in the sack of one of these nets so great a quantity
of red mullet that they were all caked together, such was
the maceration to which this delicate fish had been sub-
jected, although the injury was the cause of a much less
price being obtained for fish captured in this manner.

Of the disastrous results of this fishery we have un-
questionable examples in Spain. A law fixed an imaginary
zone near to land within which this kind of fishing was
prohibited, and when at the end of some years the fishery
of non-prohibited places was exhausted, application was
made to fish within the zone, the Government prudently re-
fused to permit it. A close time having been also appointed
the fishermen asked that it might be deferred. At some
places, Malaga among them, the fishermen who had used
these nets for years growing tired of the damage they caused
to their catch, bought them all up and burned them, at the
same time petitioning the government for their extermina-
tion from the province. Now what do these facts prove ?
They prove without a shadow of doubt two things. The
first, that fish obtained by trawling are of inferior value to
those caught with hooks or floating nets, on account of the
crushing which renders them liable to early putrefaction.
Secondly, that in those places where trawling is allowed, the

IO

fish are all completely extinct. Against these facts no
argument is possible.

Exactly the same thing takes place with trawling gear
plying nearer the shore. Thus the jdébega had spots
appointed to it along the coast, and after working for some
years completely denuded them of fish. The Jdoliche had
to change its position for exactly the same reasons, like-
wise the boliche de rada which operates in small areas
where fish are brought for sale and to be salted. Even on
the coasts of those countries which have ground suitable for
this gear, the fish are so pursued that they do not remain
permanently, having no means to satisfy their necessities.

It is not only this gear which operates injuriously on the
produce of the waters on the coast, but the use of poisonous
materials and explosive substances and stakes in the
embouchure of rivers, with many other things by which
man mars the spontaneous production of the finny tribes.
Two evils are attached to the use of explosives, the fish
caught by it die without distinction of size (it telling
with especial force on the young), and the noise frightens
those that escape alive. In poisoning the waters the fish
are of course deprived of the means of living in them, at
the same time that the dead ones are rendered unfit for
food, and repugnant to the public taste. With regard to
the damage done by stakes at the entrance to rivers it
must be remembered how many littoral species ascend to
spawn in the limpid bottoms whose fine sands aid them in
depositing their eggs, and afford facilities for impregnation
in these tranquil places, which would not occur in fre-
quented localities. It speaks nothing with respect to these
impediments to transit, that certain species live both in
fresh and salt water, since the wise English law on salmon

fisheries expressly prohibits them. The result of not having

Tek

a similar law in Spain is that, while at the end of last
century and the beginning of this, this fish was so abun-
dant in the rivers of the north and north-west of Spain,
that servants bargained with their masters‘that they should
not eat salmon more than two days a week; the price is
now so high in the capital as to place it beyond the reach
of all but the highest grades of society, and even what is
there consumed comes in a great part from abroad. This
state of things points to the necessity of legislation, and in
consequence, the question of a change in the law is at present
under consideration by competent authorities.

Having shown and explained the injury occasioned in
Spain by abuses in the fisheries, and also the necessity for
placing rational restrictive measures on the working, it will
doubtless be asked whether, owing to the extent of the
prejudices existing on the subject, the very fishermen for
whose benefit they were put forward would not ignore
them. Their objection has very little practical importance
and can easily be met. In the first place fishermen desire
only to have plenty of fishing and to have it at little cost.
In the second—when they know the causes of the evil—
it is necessary for them to employ all their energies and
make some sacrifice to respect the means of reproduction,
because if only a few abstained from joining the concourse
the whole thing would bea failure. If the sea could be
subdivided like the fields, so that each section would
respect reproduction and would not gather in the harvest
till it was ripe, there would be no need for restrictive
measures, but since the exploration of the deep is common
property there can be no remedy but such as is obtained
by the Government of each country. The necessity for
this not only interests fishermen, but is a question of the
food supply of nations.

LEGISLATION,

It has been shown on all sides that if the abuses practised *
in fisheries be not substantially ameliorated the fish will
either be frightened away, or abandon the stations, which
amounts to the same thing, since it matters little to a
country that the normal reproduction is kept up, if they are
not available for food.

Hence the necessity of remedial measures for the
existing evils. But what shall these measures be? That
is the question we must answer, a question too complex to
be defined, since it depends on a multitude of contradictory
elements. The natural condition of the waters, the diver-
sity of creatures sought out from it, the differences in the
life and habits of those creatures, and the obstacle which
the element they live in presents tu a study of those
habits, have allowed very few persons to study ichthy-
ology: whilst the inhabitants of a country, their social
condition and fundamental laws, and lastly the free con-
currence of individuals in a common ground of action, are
among the many elements which complicate the solution of
the problem.

The principle for fishery legislation on a sound basis is a
very simple one, and merely consists in the establishment
of equilibrium between the spontaneous production of the
waters and that which is drawn out of them. But the
carrying out of this principle and making the regulations to
meet it doubtless present a multitude of insuperable
difficulties.

An absolutely restrictive system and one which would cut
at the root of those inveterate abuses sanctioned by con-
stant practice and of old date, however well considered and

reasonable it may be, will inevitably meet with an opposition

I3

difficult if not impossible to overcome. In the first place, ,
under the shade of those abuses established, recognised, or
tolerated by former laws, there will have grown up a crowd
of well-to-do interests which it is not possible to disregard,
and hence the necessity for a fundamental principle of
the law dealing with such cases, if the State does not take
measures for satisfying them pecuniarily, of which case we
have in Spain so eloquent an example.

It results from what has been said that the Government
should prevent the use of trawling gear, called dou, since
ample information and an attentive study show the
evident necessity for putting an end to this system of
fishing. It has been proposed to issue regulations imposing
on its exercise specified limits of time and distance, and
forbidding the employment of new gear, but this suggestion
is of no avail in practice, as the possessors of such gear
naturally desire to keep them as long as possible and never
proceed to break them up. Thus the essential point of the
law is evaded, which would not be the case if the govern-
ment bought up the apparatus and awarded compensation,
at the same time absolutely forbidding the employment of
such apparatus in fisheries.

In imposing a system of absolute restrictions, it must not
be forgotten that these will be sure to provoke an un-
popularity which no government can afford to disregard.

If, on the other hand, we pass to the opposite point, viz...
altogether free working, it is a Utopian idea that by this
means equilibrium will be maintained between production
and extraction without any sovernment intervention, as
was recently done in the United States in the way Professor
Brown Goode so clearly explained to us.

We do not know, however, if this modern procedure will

_ give in the course of time the expected favourable results,

14

and years must elapse for its thorough trial, but we believe
it will—we believe so because we have great faith in the pro-
gress of that grand nation ; but on the other hand we do not
believe it will cure all ills, for it is a principle contrary to
reason that fishermen should destroy and government
reconstitute. But to clear this question from the density
of the waters, we must fancy ourselves on land and sup-
pose that in working the mountains of a nation the same
means were adopted, viz. unrestricted felling of trees
and wood, the government being charged with replenish-
ing them at the cost of the State. The system would
render the mountains still more costly and unproductive,
for if the nursery grounds contained enough trees for re-
stocking them, they would not replace those cut down in
their natural size.

This is the weak side of the system, as establishments
conveniently distributed along the coast are not sufficient
to maintain the fundamental equilibrium of production, if
when young fish are drawn out of the waters they are not
returned to acquire maturity, and for this the action of the
law, in a restrictive sense, is necessary at the present time.

Besides, to ensure the completeness of the system, it is
necessary that these establishments should be of sufficient
number and possess suitable conditions for the reproduction
of the various edible species, as otherwise what the system
would gain on the one side, it would lose on the other, and
this presupposes a heavy outlay on the construction and
maintenance of the hatcheries.

We do not wish to censure a system, adopted with so
much success in the United States, which assumes that the
best way to ensure perfect working is to leave it in the
hands of the workers to spontaneously guard their own in-

terests without the intervention of the State, because by this

T5

means there springs up a knowledge of reproduction, they
see for themselves the advantages obtained by preservation,
the rude operators learn something of the life and habits
of the species kept at the stations, in a word, men who
have hitherto thought only about fishing, think about the
stocking of fishing grounds.

One word with respect to the fry proceeding from these
establishments. This is the vulnerable point of the system.
The United States consigns them to the care and watch-
fulness of protecting societies, but the representatives of
other nations, who do not act in this spirit of association,
and are not in a condition to bear the increasing expenses
of a complete plan of fish hatching establishments, will
agree with me, that however excellent may be the system
under discussion, it is not fit for general adoption, having no
other resource but that of looking to the State to keep up
the production by means of a provisional law, which, while
giving every possible limit to the industry, contributes in a
marked degree to prevent the depletion of the fisheries.

These limitations cannot be determined in a general
sense, because in them there enter conditions which cannot
be disregarded, conditions which spring, some from nature
itself, others from the laws, usages, and customs of each
particular nation. It will hence be seen how much in
common are the interests of fishing in all countries, all
having the same fundamental principle, and it will then be
possible to adopt measures having the same affinity and
end.

In the first place it is necessary to take into account the
fact that the same principles cannot be established in all
waters. Thus Spain bounded by two distinct seas finds it
necessary to depart from the general unity which applies

to every national law, the industry being carried on under

16

different conditions. The coast of the Mediterranean which
undoubtedly, as has been shown, produces more than the
Atlantic coast, has great depletion in fish notwithstanding
the most favourable conditions for reproduction—and
there can be no doubt that this is due to abuses or the
bad system of fishing practised by all countries which
border on the sea. In the first place the means of extraction
are greater, as the condition of these waters and that of
the bottoms is more conducive to the establishment of im-
pediments to fish passage than to trawling, also that the
Mediterranean is more suitable to certain species. Not-
withstanding this, its temperature, the class of vegeta-
tion which flourishes on its bottom, and the material
organism which it constantly receives from the rivers and
rainy deposits, are other elements which favour a large

production.

PROPOSALS.

I will conclude by making some proposals to my col-
leagues the Commissioners of all the countries represented
at this Exhibition. ,

The importance of fisheries as the source of wealth is now
recognised by all civilised countries, nor is it forgotten that
it forms one of the principal elements in the public food
supply, as well as that their extension facilitates the means
of communication among nations, and that this increases
the industrial output; and lastly, that the calling of a
fisherman is the nursery which produces that race, hardy,
enduring, and brave, which man our ships, establish means
of communication among continents, and maintain the
independence of nations.

All are interested individually and collectively in this

calling and in the rational protection of the industry, because

17

nature has provided no frontiers for the watery inhabitants,
and the immensity in which they live manifests eloquently
the interest which ought to be taken by nations to maintain
this richness of production.

It is necessary for this that men of all countries who
devote themselves to the study and administration of the
different branches constituting this industry, should com-
municate one with the other to compare observations,
resolve their doubts, and give statistics ; it is necessary, too,
that they should follow the example of England and seize an
occasion to facilitate the interchange of products of all coun-
tries concerned ; and it is necessary, lastly, that congresses
should be held at which may be elucidated technically all
points of controversy, thus founding a basis for international
treaties.

Spain has established fishery boards in all her maritime
provinces, and the Administration of these in the Ministry of
Marine will gladly enter into relations with all the Com-
missions now established, or to be established, for the
mutual interchange of matters tending to facilitate a
knowledge of this important industry.

This community of interests is more apparent among
nations of the same continent, since in the exercise of fishing,
interests are affected in a reciprocal way, in the case of
emigrants or passengers along the shore, and even the
sedentary coast inhabitants. Many practical examples
could be cited of common injuries, but I will limit myself
to one.

The French fishermen used to fish in free waters off
Arcachon with a trawling-net which they call “chalut,” and
the places they dragged they thought to be a bank or
natural bed of sea bream and other shore species. Seeing
that in Spain there was a diminution of these species, the

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18

Spanish fishermen went to work also (as the place was
equally free to both nations,) destroying the means of pro-
duction of those species, which would naturally tend to
seek another place farther off, with an appreciable loss to
both Spaniards and Frenchmen.

It is necessary, therefore, that we should endeavour,
considering the universal interests involved, to recommend
in our respective countries the necessity of coming to an
agreement by means of international treaties, so that the
abuse of one nation may not prejudice the others.

It is evident that it is an error to consider the boundaries
of national waters as the measure of international juris-
diction, because fish cannot be made to respect these
limitations, which only apply to other matters, and more
space is required in order that the bordering nations may
watch over their preservation, not abandoning it as they do
now by reason of this small territorial limit.

I will conclude with a point of great importance. We
are all deeply impressed with the sufferings to which the
fisherman is subject in his precarious occupation, ending in
many cases in an untimely death ; and as we have already
said the waters have no frontiers, neither have human
sentiments. It follows then that all coasting nations may
afford protection from some of the sailor’s perils by means of
benevolent societies, giving relief in cases of shipwreck and
in any other disasters contracted in the calling.

All nations should combine for the mutual aid and
propagation of societies of this nature, by means of which
the man, well-to-do and exempt from perils, fulfils one of his
most sacred duties—the relief of the poor hardly-worked
fisherman.

At the conclusion of the Paper, the CHAIRMAN said it
had been considered wiser to defer the discussion upon it,

TQ

as a great many of the foreign delegates were absent,
having gone to Scotland to inspect Sir James Maitland’s
fish culture arrangements at Stirling. He would therefore
only propose a vote of thanks to Lieut.-Colonel Sola for
his Paper.

The vote of thanks having been passed,

Mr. BIRKBECK, M.P., moved a similar vote to his
Excellency for presiding, which was carried unanimously, |
and the Conference then adjourned.

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