Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-03-03
Huxley Oh Fish and Fishings


Der Of seafish is one of those ques
tons which must be of interest to
us. Prof. Huxley, in lecture de-
livered at The national fishery ex
hibition at Norwich, England, at
the close of last month, is partlcu-
larly instructive, and in giving his
views on this important subject he
comedies with those advanced by
Prof. Baird, the United States
Commissioner of Fish and Fisher
les.
The subject which occupied the
attention of Prof. Huxley vas that
of the herring, and more particn
larry the family of the Clupeid@,
found on the Scotch ard English
coasts. 1t is the special faculty Of
such distinguished thinker and
biologist as Prof. Huxley to bind
together all the diSiointed facts
and from them to deduce some
great generalizatin. With those
purely archaeological questions, IN
teresting to the student alone, we
have not, then, so much to do as
those larger facts in regard to the
quantity of the fish. 1t is rather
then, in the economic treatment OF
this particular subject, than IN its
scientific bearing, that Prof. Hux-
ley's remarks are of moment. To-
day. both in England and America,
population increases, and with this
augmentation of numbers, the
mouths to be filled are more nu-
merous. To meet this increasing
demand more fishermen ply their
calling, more nets are cast, newer
and more destructive engines are
invented. all tending directly
to the taking of more fish. From
this increase of fishing no end Of
contention arises among the fish
ermen as to the cxpediency OF the
Instruments employed. In the
United States those who use travis
are said By short line fishermen to
destroy the fish, while the pound
fishermen are decried By trawlerS,
METERS and line men. Not very
long ago a fairly well informed
person published pamphlet, dc
claring that the American mack
erel fishery would be destroyed be
cause nets were used, and the
modest request was mace that leg
iSlative action should be employed
obliging mackerel fishermen to re-
turn to line fishing. 1t is neither
tile special fishermen, who arc ad
vocates Of line. trawl, netor pounds
who are the judges Of this question
No one Of them has a just appre-
citation of the general facts, or is
acquainted with the quantities OF
fish taken by any of the methods.
His. practical acquaintance with
the fish he catches is limited, fol
he is quite ignorant of the laws
which govern the reproduction OF
the movements Of any special fish
Prof. Huxley brings this fact
cleverly into prominence by what
lie tells of the grievance the her
ring fishermen had against the
beam trawlerS, who worked Will
their nets at the bottom Of the sea
hear Pictenween, off the coast Of
Scotland. "Here there is a famous
spawning ground for herring.
known as the Traith holes, and We
were told that trawlerS worked
vigorously over this spot immedi
ately after the herring had deposi
ted their spawn" The men were
asked why they worked here, "ant
why they took the trouble Of do
ing what looked like wanton mis-
chief" The answer was that fiat
fish were most abundant right il
that place. because the fat fish
came just there to eat the eggs o
the herrings. When Prof. Huxley
examined the contents Of the fsl
stomachs herring eggs were fouDt
in them. Now, what was the de-
| duction arrived at? One quite con
trary to that advanced by the her
ring fishermen, but the only sensi
BILE one-severy fat fish caught 10y
the trawler was an energetic DIES
troyer of herring arrested in hi:
career; and the TRAVELLING, instead o
injuring The herring, captured ant
removed hosts of their worst enc
mics. That Is how ut stood tt
reason,' when one got at the bot
tom of the matter" Now, wher
persons who are utterly ignorant
of the laws governing nature adj
vance an argument, backed up by
those four words, ait stands to rea
son"-the worst kind of an a prior
argument-there are ninety nine
chances in a hundred that they are
wrong. In 1864 there were dolor-
Gus prophesies of the coming ex
haustion of the Scotch herring
fisheries. s.It stood in reason"thai
so many had been caught before by
new appliances that not single
more herring was to be found III
the seas. w hen the decade of 1865
and 1878 was estimated, it was
found to have yielded more herring
than the previous ones. The years
1874 and 1880 care absolutely
without parallel IN the annals OF
the Scotch herring fishery" for a
million of barrels were cured IN
the first year, and million and a
halt last year.
Professor Huxley stated that
9. 500. DOC. 900 or Whereabouts of her.