CONSERVATION OF DEEP SEA BEDS. 1049 



oysters on shore, and therefore trawling is permitted all the 

 year round on the French coast, as it is on the English, 

 except where protective rights are enforced. 



Trawlermen think, and rightly so in our opinion, that 

 every grant or concession of oyster grounds made by the 

 Board of Trade is a direct invasion of their rights ; for as 

 soon as the grant is confirmed, it becomes illegal in the 

 appropriated fishery to use any other instrument than hooks 

 and lines and nets for catching floating fish. Inshore 

 trawling for soles at night, for example, on these grounds 

 -one of the most profitable sources of their living is 

 prohibited. 



In the Bay of St. Malo the line of Government Reserve 

 beds divides the Granville from the Cancale fisheries. In 

 one part of this ground oysters have become again very 

 productive, whilst on other parts there are hardly any. As 

 trawling is strictly prohibited on the beds, those that con- 

 tend that it is beneficial to oysters point to one part, whilst 

 their opponents instance the other ! Practically the ques- 

 tion seems to us to be simple enough. Trawling for flat 

 fish on oyster grounds with vessels having beam trawls will 

 do more good than harm, provided that the majority of the 

 oysters that are dredged up are thrown overboard again, and 

 returned to their beds. It is true that the iron ends of the 

 trawl beam will crush and destroy the young brood or spat 

 that it happens to drag over ; but weed, mud, and other 

 enemies are disturbed by the trawl, and the ground rendered 

 more fit for the reception of spat. 



But chain trawls are a different thing. Instead of a 

 hemp rope, the trawl is then fitted with an iron chain at 

 the bottom of the net ; this chain adapts itself to the ine- 

 qualities of the bottom, and is most destructive to oyster 



