In 1901 the Board of Trade appointed a committee (the Committee on Ichthyological Research) to inquire and report as to the best means by which scientific fishery research could be organized and assisted in relation to the state or local authorities. The committee consisted of Sir Herbert Maxwell, M.P. (chairman), Mr W.F. Archer, Mr Donald Crawford, Rev. W.S. Green, Professor W.A. Herdman, Hon. T.H.W. Pelham, Mr S.E. Spring Rice and Professor J.A. Thomson. Sir Herbert Maxwell resigned his chairmanship before the report was drawn up (September 1902), and was succeeded by Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff. The committee recommended the provision of more complete statistics; the provision and maintenance of five special steamers (where not already existing) to work in connexion with as many marine laboratories, viz. one for each of the three coasts of England and Wales, and one each for Scotland and Ireland; the provision of three biological assistants at each laboratory; the grant of statutory powers to local sea-fisheries committees to expend money on fishery research; the constitution of a fishery council for England and Wales, and of a conference of representatives of the central authorities in England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1903 the fishery department of the Board of Trade was transferred to the Board of Agriculture, Mr W.E. Archer, chief inspector of fisheries, becoming an assistant secretary of the new Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
In 1907 a departmental treasury committee was appointed to inquire into the scientific and statistical investigations carried on in relation to the fishing industry of the United Kingdom. The committee consisted of Mr H.J. Tennant, M.P. (chairman), Lord Nunburnholme, Sir Reginald MacLeod, Mr N.W. Helms, M.P., Mr A. Williamson, M.P., Dr P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S., Mr J.S. Gardiner, F.R.S., the Rev. W.S. Green, Mr R.H. Rew and Mr L.S. Hewby. This committee reviewed the work that had already been done and urged its continuation and extension under the direction of a central council composed of representatives of the government departments concerned with fishery matters in England, Scotland and Ireland, with a scientific chairman and director, and further insisted on the need of international co-operation in the investigations.
United States Fisheries.—The administration of the fisheries of the United States of America is under the control of the several coastal states, but the Bureau of Fisheries at Washington, which reports to the secretary of commerce and labour, conducts a vast amount of scientific fishery investigation, issues admirable statistical and biological reports, and conducts on a very large scale work on the replenishment of the fishing stations by artificial means (see [Pisciculture]). Although in recent years Canada has given an increasing amount of state support to the investigation, control and assistance of her fisheries, an amount actually and relatively far exceeding that given in Great Britain, the fishing industry of the United States still far exceeds that of Canada. A considerable bulk of fish, taken by American ships from the Newfoundland coasts and from those of other British provinces, is landed at American ports, but as the following recent table shows, it is much less than that taken from American waters.
Quantities and Values of Fish landed by American Vessels at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., in 1905.
| Quantities. | Value. | |
| (a) From fishing grounds off U.S. coasts | 152,241,139 | £669,640 |
| (b) From fishing grounds off Newfoundland | 17,165,083 | 103,145 |
| (c) From fishing grounds off other British provinces | 32,608,343 | 192,517 |
The fisheries of the United States show a substantial increase from year to year. There has been a decline in some important branches owing to indiscreet fishing and to the inevitable effects of civilization on certain kinds of animal life and in certain restricted areas. Such diminution has been more than compensated for by growth resulting from the invasion of new fishing grounds made possible by increase in the sea-going capacity of the vessels employed, by improvement in the preservation and handling of the catch, and by the greater utilization of products which until comparatively recently were disregarded or considered without economic value. The annual value of the water products taken and sold by the United States fishermen now amounts to over £11,000,000, and this sum does not include the very large quantities taken by the fishermen for home consumption or captured by sportsmen and amateurs. Between two and three hundred thousand persons make a livelihood by the industry, and the capital involved exceeds £16,000,000.
The oyster is the most valuable single product, and the output of the United States industry exceeds the combined output of all other countries in the world. The most notable feature of this fishery is that nearly half the total yield now comes from cultivated grounds, so that the business is being placed on a secure basis. Virginia has now taken the first rank as an oyster-producing state, oyster farming being now highly developed with an annual yield of nearly nine million bushels.
The high-sea fisheries for cod, haddock, hake, halibut, mackerel, herring, and so forth are on the whole not increasing in prosperity, the annual value being between one and two million pounds. The lobster fishery shows a markedly diminishing yield, the diminution having been progressive since about 1890, and being attributed to over-fishing and violation of the restrictive regulations. At present a large part of the lobsters consumed in the United States comes from Nova Scotia, but there is evidence of useful results coming from the extensive cultural operations now being carried out.
The whale fishery, at one time the leading fishing industry of the country, is now conducted chiefly in the North Pacific and Arctic oceans, but is decaying, being now expensive, uncertain and often unremunerative. The annual value of the take is now under £200,000.
The important group of anadromous fishes (those like salmon, shad, alewife, striped bass and sea perches, which ascend the rivers from the ocean) has continued to provide an increasing source of income to fishermen, the combined value of the catch on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards now amounting to over £3,000,000 annually. The fisheries of the Great Lakes yield about £600,000 annually.