IN THE BAYS ON THE SOUTH-EAST COAST OF DEVON. 443 



To begin with the plaice, Holt, in his Elimination of the Present State 

 of the Orimsby Traivl Fishery, p. 409, has given the numbers of plaice 

 that a trunk will hold. He takes 250 as being the average number 

 of plaice under 12 inches ; for larger fish the numbers are considerably 

 less. These numbers apply to the North Sea plaice, and it appears that 

 9 stone is about the average weight of a full trunk. For the plaice 

 landed at Brixham these numbers are somewhat too high ; a full trunk 

 only averages about 7 stone, and the numbers vary from 60 or 70 to 

 200, according as the plaice are 16 to 18 inches on the average or 10 to 

 12 inches. After counting and weighing the contents of several trunks 

 the number chosen as best representing a trunk was 90,* and the figures 

 in the following tables are based on this. 



As the small baskets contain plaice of approximately the same size, 

 there is much less difficulty in finding a number which represents the 

 average they contain. In the following table 25 is employed. The 

 sizes which go into the small baskets are from 8 to 10 inches in 

 the great majority of cases; but as plaice over 10 inches are often 

 sold with those under 10 inches, 11 inches has been the limit chosen. 



In the accompanying Table I. the actual numbers of plaice landed 

 by the Mumble Bees f are tabulated for each month of the year. In- 

 asmuch as some of the larger smacks are at times working on the same 

 grounds — namely, between Start Point and Portland — the numbers of 

 plaice captured by them have been added at the end of each quarter.]: 



The total number of " large " plaice obtained during the year amounts 

 to 180,180. Of this number more than half were captured during 

 February, March, and April, when the plaice were spawning in the 

 deep water or returning to the inshore grounds after having spawned. 

 The months when the larger fish are least abundant offshore are 

 September, October, and November. It is worthy of remark that the 

 numbers for the months rise from 360 in November to 49,860 in April, 

 and descend again to 450 in October in an almost uniform manner. 



* This number was partly based also on the estimate that the average weight of plaice 

 was 1 to 1^ lbs. All the factors stated hei'e — for whiting and soles as well — require further 

 testing. 



t The plaice landed at Torquay by the Brixham boats have been omitted. The effect is 

 that the numbers of the small plaice are lower than they might have been. The Brixham 

 boats land their catches at Torquay in the summer-time only. I do not think the omission 

 amounts to more than one or two per cent, of the numbers recorded in the table, and the 

 conclusion as regards distribution of small plaice is quite unailected. 



X The returns of the large boats were also taken daily by Mr. Will Sanders, but as they 

 are comparatively few in number, their importance is sufficiently recognised in merely 

 stating the total number of plaice captured by them during each three months. 



