Sir

Jennifer Devine and colleagues in their Brief Communication “Deep-sea fishes qualify as endangered” (Nature 439, 29; 2006) state: “At one time it was presumed from the vastness of the oceans that fishing would not drive species to extinction.” Indeed, the UK Royal Commission on the Sea Fisheries in 1866, whose officers included Thomas Henry Huxley, reported that fears of over-exploitation were unfounded. The commission recommended that existing laws regulating fishing grounds and closed seasons should be removed. But the rise in fish trade and reports about the scarcity of fish from all around the United Kingdom's coasts strengthened widespread concern among fishing communities and in scientific circles.

It all came to a head in 1883 at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London, a conference called to discuss commercial and scientific aspects of the fishing industry. In his inaugural address Huxley repeated the views of the royal commission by discounting reports of declines in fish catches. “With existing methods of fishing,” he said, “it is inconceivable that the great sea fisheries, such as those for cod, herring and mackerel, could ever be exhausted.”

Fortunately, there were some present who ventured to disagree. Their views were put forward by Edwin Ray Lankester.

“It is a mistake to suppose that the place of fish removed on a particular fishing ground is immediately taken by some grand total of fish, which are so numerous in comparison with man's depredations as to make his operations in this respect insignificant,” said Lankester. “If man removes a large proportion of these fish from the areas which they inhabit, the natural balance is upset.”

Huxley and the royal commission did not foresee the advances in technology that accelerated depletion, particularly the move from sail to steam and then motor trawling. Even as late as 1919 there were influential British scientists, such as W. C. McIntosh, who denied that the sea's bounty could be exhausted by human activity (Nature 103, 355–358 and 376–378; 1919, and Walter Garstang's response, Nature 104, 48–49; 1919). But the earlier actions of their opponents ultimately stimulated the formation of several UK marine laboratories, such as those at Plymouth, Lowestoft and Millport, that conduct fish biology and fishery investigations to this day.

It is sobering to note that the concerns and problems facing people some 120 years ago are in some ways similar to those of scientists, industry and administrators today. Now, however, worldwide marine-fish populations are declining at an unprecented rate, requiring greater international cooperation, research capacity and timely action.