INTRODUCTORY. 47 



tion ; it would, of course, be very difficult to ascertain 

 that such was the case ; and when those persons who 

 assert it are pressed on the subject, they can only say 

 they think so, perhaps because the ova of salmon are 

 covered over. 



Yet, with the great difference in the conditions 

 affecting the spawning of salmon and sea fish, it is no 

 uncommon thing to find it put forward as a logical 

 argument that, if it be right to establish a close-time 

 for the salmon during the spawning season, we sliould 

 on the same principle have one for the fishes of the sea. 



We may here observe that the extent of ground 

 actually fished by the beam-trawl is much less than 

 appears to be generally supposed ; and the destructive 

 effect in capturing fish, whether of marketable size or 

 otherwise, of this method of working proportionately 

 exaggerated. The nets used by the deep-sea trawlers 

 range from about 36 to 50 feet wide at the mouth ; or, 

 to use the ordinary expression in describing them, that 

 would be the length of the beam. Fifty feet is the out- 

 side length we have heard of, and it is only in the new 

 class of vessels that it is so much ; but we will take 

 that as an example. Now, it would require 120 of such 

 trawls, placed side by side, to fill up the breadth of a 

 nautical mile of 2000 yards. The proportion of ground 

 covered by a single trawl, of the size we have men- 

 tioned, will perhaps be better apprehended by reducing 

 it to a small scale ; if we take f—th, then the largest 

 sized trawl would be represented by half an inch on a 

 space five feet wide. The small inshore trawlers work 

 with beams ranging from 15 to 25 feet in length, and 

 the longest of these would occupy only a quarter of an 

 inch on the reduced scale. We shall have occasion 

 in subsequent pages to speak of the various grounds 



