22
MAN’S INFLUENCE
\have been eagerly followed by generation after generation of
men
belonging to every nation bordering on the sea. Yet '
after all these thousands of years can it be said that there
evident signs of the extinction of any modern marine sh ?
'
It has been shown how easy it is to affect the numbers of ‘
the larger land—animals, the oceanic mammals and fresh-water
,
shes, by extensive and long-continued attache. The problem
of the marine food—shes, however, is less easily solved.
The
majority of these produce a vast number of minute pelagic
,
eggs,
and thus even before the larvæ are born the species is
,
disseminated throughout a great area, it may be, so far as
shing is concerned, of untouched
There is no 'denite
'
limit, for instance, on either side of the Atlantic beyond which
we can say this or that
does not go.
Onthe contrary, _a
»
vast reserve of water more or less unshed by— man is always
present in the larger seas, and as these are but parts of one
,
great whole which covers three—fourths of the earth’s surface,
the extermination of any form by man is rendered
.
,
nearly as difcult as if nature had provided insècts with aërial
eggs, and man had endeavoured to annihilate them.
,
At rst sight it seems almost incredible that such species as
_
the cod, haddock, whiting, plaice, and sole could withstand the
"
vast annual drain caused by the operations of the shernïen of
various nations.
Yet at this moment all theSe species in the
,
open seas present as wide a distribution, and, in some, as little
_
diminution in numbers as if the constant perseCution of man '
had not been.
Nor
we
conne our attention” to the
ravages of man alone.
Whales, seals, sea—birdsî sharks, dog—
'
shes, skate, their own and other species of bony shes, and in
.
_
their young stages many invertebrates, continually
on
them
and have preyed on them for ages. The yearly consump4
'
tion by the foregoing diverse forms represents an enormous
'
sacrice of the food—shes.‘ TheSe and other natural
'
;
__
are beyOnd—the inuence of man, and probablyat no period
,
were
less poWerful than they are now.
Man’s-interference is
1
Sir J. Murray thinks cooling of the surface destroyed forms having pelàgic
:
larvæ, but his grounds are open to doubt.
‘-’
E.g. penguins, gannets,‘ cormorants, gùillemots, pufns, gulls, terms, &c.
MAN’S INFLUENCE
\have been eagerly followed by generation after generation of
men
belonging to every nation bordering on the sea. Yet '
after all these thousands of years can it be said that there
evident signs of the extinction of any modern marine sh ?
'
It has been shown how easy it is to affect the numbers of ‘
the larger land—animals, the oceanic mammals and fresh-water
,
shes, by extensive and long-continued attache. The problem
of the marine food—shes, however, is less easily solved.
The
majority of these produce a vast number of minute pelagic
,
eggs,
and thus even before the larvæ are born the species is
,
disseminated throughout a great area, it may be, so far as
shing is concerned, of untouched
There is no 'denite
'
limit, for instance, on either side of the Atlantic beyond which
we can say this or that
does not go.
Onthe contrary, _a
»
vast reserve of water more or less unshed by— man is always
present in the larger seas, and as these are but parts of one
,
great whole which covers three—fourths of the earth’s surface,
the extermination of any form by man is rendered
.
,
nearly as difcult as if nature had provided insècts with aërial
eggs, and man had endeavoured to annihilate them.
,
At rst sight it seems almost incredible that such species as
_
the cod, haddock, whiting, plaice, and sole could withstand the
"
vast annual drain caused by the operations of the shernïen of
various nations.
Yet at this moment all theSe species in the
,
open seas present as wide a distribution, and, in some, as little
_
diminution in numbers as if the constant perseCution of man '
had not been.
Nor
we
conne our attention” to the
ravages of man alone.
Whales, seals, sea—birdsî sharks, dog—
'
shes, skate, their own and other species of bony shes, and in
.
_
their young stages many invertebrates, continually
on
them
and have preyed on them for ages. The yearly consump4
'
tion by the foregoing diverse forms represents an enormous
'
sacrice of the food—shes.‘ TheSe and other natural
'
;
__
are beyOnd—the inuence of man, and probablyat no period
,
were
less poWerful than they are now.
Man’s-interference is
1
Sir J. Murray thinks cooling of the surface destroyed forms having pelàgic
:
larvæ, but his grounds are open to doubt.
‘-’
E.g. penguins, gannets,‘ cormorants, gùillemots, pufns, gulls, terms, &c.