Includes bibliographical references and index.

A Species of Delusion? The Inspectors of Irish Fisheries, 1819-2019 tells the story of how the Inspectorates were established, who they were, how they functioned, and their contribution to the present-day management and regulation of Irish fisheries. far from a delusion, they were influential as models for the emergence of similar bodies in england and Scotland. as early as 1855, they were feted at the Paris International Exhibition. Later Inspectorate, commencing in 1900, was acclaimed as one of the foremost marine biology centres in the world.
Having decline almost to extinction during the early days of national independence, a new Inspectorate, the sixth, grew in strength from the middle of the twentieth century to become a foundation pillar of today's Marine Institute, Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority.