Professor Herdman, of Liverpool, opened the British Associa- tion's meeting
at Cardiff on Tuesday with a thoughtful address on the study of the sea and its inhabitants. His main conten- tion was that the fisherman must become the settled farmer of the sea if his harvest was to be less precarious. It was important to determine how many fish there were in our waters and what was the food-value of each of them. Further, we needed to know their habits and movements, and the nature of the ele- mentary organisms upon which they fed. He instanced the still incomplete life-history of the eel as an example of how much remained to be found out about the most important fishes; Professor Herdman suggested that Cardiff, as a great seaport, might do something for fishery research. There are signs of new commercial developments in the fishing trade. The cost of living might be reduced if the trade were better organized. But the abundant food-supplies which lie at our door will not be used to the fullest advantage without the help of the trained scientists who, like Professor Herdman, have devoted their lives to this profoundly important subject.
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