Lobster culture in the isle of mull

ABSTRACT WE have been favoured with a circular, issued by Mr. George Brook, Lecturer on Embryology in the University of Edinburgh, and Mr. W. L. Calderwood, late of the scientific staff of

the Fishery Board for Scotland, expressive of an intentention to establish at Lochbuie a small marine laboratory. The promoters have set themselves to restore our shell fisheries to their

former condition; and a leading item in their programme is the proposal to construct a lobster pond, with suitable apparatus for hatching and rearing lobsters. The cost of the entire

laboratory, with pond and plant, is estimated at £400, that of maintenance at £150 per annum—exceedingly moderate sums, for which an appeal is made to the public. The condition into which

our lobster fisheries have lapsed is shown by the fact that a lobster ground in the far west of Ireland is worked by a South of England boat. Our import lobster trade is yearly increasing,

and the fact that our markets are not home-stocked is, discreditable in the extreme. The problem of artificial culture necessary for the purpose in view has many times been attacked by

British naturalists. Saville Kent had it constantly in mind while officiating at our several aquaria; he made it a primary object in his schemes for the establishment of marine stations in

Jersey and at Brighton, and he meanwhile attempted to raise interest in it in a paper read at the International Fisheries Exhibition held at South Kensington. All this notwithstanding, the

matter has, with us, not yet passed beyond the experimental stage, and we are behind in the international race. At Lochbuie the conditions should be favourable; and as Mr. Brook, in the

preparation of his _Challenger_ Report, has shown himself capable of performing a difficult task under exceptional conditions, we have full confidence in his ability to carry out his

project. The promoters of this scheme propose in other respects to pursue a course of scientific study of the marine fauna of the west coast of Scotland, but their chief aims are

unmistakably economic. We sincerely hope that they will confine their attention to the one or the other branch, for nothing can be plainer than that the extraordinary successes which have

placed the fishery work of our American cousins foremost in that of the world, have been largely, if not wholly, due to their having kept pure science and economics scrupulously apart. The

Lochbuie scheme is a modest though an ambitious one, and Messrs. Brook and Calderwood signify their intention of giving their services as superintendents. Recent proceedings in Parliament

have shown that there is disaffection on the Scottish Fishery Board; and it would be an interesting circumstance should private enterprise, which has done so much for science in Britain,

solve the difficulty in hand, while the State-aided body fritters away a handsome endowment. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content,

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Lobster Culture in the Isle of Mull. _Nature_ 42, 399 (1890). https://doi.org/10.1038/042399a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 21 August 1890 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/042399a0 SHARE

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