58 REMEDIES FOR THE DEPLETION OP 



of maximum destruction, when they held hardly any fish other 

 than these small plaice. For the rest of the year, when larger 

 fish frequented them (or at any rate their offshore portions), 

 they would not be closed. 



The owners were agreed that, as scientific investigations 

 were in progress, action should wait upon the report of the 

 scientists ; and in 1913 the scientists produced their report. 

 They adVised that no plaice under 20 cm. (i8 inches) should be 

 landed between 1st October and 31st March, or under 22 cm. 

 (8 J inches) between 1st April and 30th September. The half- 

 inch of difference would never have survived the criticism of 

 men experienced in landing plaice in bulk. Certain naturalists — 

 notably Masterman — have arrived at the conclusion that 

 whereas a 9-inch limit would not make it unremunerative for 

 a trawler to fish the small-plaice grounds, a 10-inch hmit would 

 do so. This is probably a point on which owners and skippers 

 are much better able to decide correctly than research workers. 



However, the war came. Fishing on the small-plaice grounds 

 was restricted, if not extinguished ; and it should now be 

 possible (if it is not too late in 1920) to come to a definite con- 

 clusion as to the result of this closure. 



The International Council of 1920 



The International Council in 1920 published ^ two papers 

 put in by foreign nations : 



1. The Danes (Commodore G. F. Drechsel, Secretary to the 

 Council, and Dr. A. C. Johansen) laid down this proposition : 

 the large steam and sailing trawlers destroy great quantities 

 of young plaice. For their protection it would be necessary to 

 introduce an international size limit of 25-26 cm. (say 10 to 

 lOJ inches) and an endeavour should be made to introduce it. 

 But inasmuch as a size limit so high as this would threaten ' the 

 very existence upon present lines ' of German and Dutch plaice 

 fisheries, and as these deserving fishermen bring ' a great part 

 of ' their plaice to market alive, they would fix the hmit for 

 a live plaice at 22 or 23 cm. (say 8 J inches). (The reply ^ of the 

 British industry can be anticipated. Who is to say, when once 

 it is dead, whether a fish of 8| inches was or was not aUve when 

 it was landed ?) With this reservation they recommend the 



^ It failed to publish much valuable evidence submitted by the English 

 Ministry of Agriculture. See p. 63. 



^ It is probably true that a size limit can be more cheaply and effectually 

 enforced ' on the slab ' than on the quayside. But the smallest fish are sold 

 not to fishmongers but to fish friers, interference with whose trade is a matter 

 to be undertaken only for the most unassailable reasons. They are the poor 

 man's caterers par excellence in Great Britain. 



