76 SALT-WATER FISHES 



to a length of about 13 in.), legislation is, it will readily be 

 seen, very difficult. What is, in fact, required is a measure 

 that, without throwing a large section of the fishing population 

 out of work, shall check this massacre of the innocents. Were 

 there any other channel into which the specialised labour of 

 these men could temporarily be diverted without loss to them- 

 selves, there would be no great objection to giving the plaice 

 a period of rest, for it is not among the most popular of table 

 fish, and the public could well do without it for a time. 



To protect the plaice, however, until it has had an oppor- 

 tunity of spawning will probably be found impracticable, so 

 that some half-measure, protecting undersized fish, yet allowing 

 the capture of those just under the size corresponding to sexual 

 maturity, will be found the only compromise. Small size- 

 limits of 8 or 10 in. have been proposed, though such a 

 limit would be of little practical benefit as long as French 

 markets admit plaice of only 5 or 55 in. In any case, 

 international concord and co-operation on the part of all the 

 nations engaged in the North Sea fishing are essential to 

 success. Without them, restriction in one of the countries 

 could only hamper its fishermen, compelling them to seek 

 neighbouring markets in order to dispose of their contraband, 

 without doing the fish any good. 



The chief remedies that have so far come up for 

 consideration before various Conferences and Commissions 

 are as follows : — 



I. Closure of inshore areas to trawlers, either for some 

 months in each year or for some years entirely. 



II. Extension of the three-mile limit. 



III. Increase by statute in the mesh of the trawl. 

 IV. Prohibition of sale or landing of undersized (or 



immature) plaice. 



V. Artificial culture of sea fish. 



VI. Inducing the fishermen to return the spawn 

 of newly caught ripe fish to the sea. 



