298 TRAWLING IX BAYS OS THE SOUTH COAST OF DEVON. 



ever, and, in fact, all organisms brought up by the trawl, while efforts 

 were made by us to ascertain what other forms, too small to be retained 

 in the meshes, were present on the grounds over which we worked. In 

 the subjoined lists I have, for the sake of brevity, grouped all food- 

 fishes recorded under inches. It will be understood that a fish of, say, 

 8 inches may have been either 8, 8|, 8i, or 8f inches in actual 

 length, measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail. Eays 

 are treated exceptionally, the dimension given being the width of the 

 disc, since some part of the comparatively unimportant tail is often 

 missing. Except in the case of plaice, fish of less than 8 inches are 

 grouped together, since I believe that no one will contend that such 

 small creatures can be the object of a legitimate fishery. 



In considering the proportional numbers of fish of different sizes, I 

 have grouped together as " unsaleable " all plaice and dabs of less than 

 8 inches, a proceeding which appears to be in accordance with local 

 market custom. The Sea Fisheries Bill of 1898 sought to prevent the 

 sale, &c., of plaice, dabs, and soles not exceeding 8 inches, which is a 

 slightly higher standard. 



For convenience I have placed the standard of sexual maturity for 

 plaice at 12 inches, though my colleague, Mr, J. T. Cunningham, who 

 investigated the matter in this district, found that the average size at 

 which female plaice, the larger and more numerous sex, begin to breed 

 is slightly above 12 inches. Dabs are small fish, which may be mature 

 even before they are saleable, so that the economic and biological limits 

 sufficiently correspond. Soles are mature at about 12 inches, and until 

 they reach such a length are only " slips " in the eyes of the fish-buyer, 

 and as such do not command a very exalted price. The other species 

 which figure in our records are so far fro% numerous that it is hardly 

 necessary to discuss the question of their maturity. When taken in 

 any number it will be found that the majority were so small as to be 

 economically worthless, whether mature or not. 



In the case of plaice I have introduced a standard of a purely 

 arbitrary nature. Considering that fish reaches, even on the southern 

 and south-western coasts, a length of 25 inches, I do not think that my 

 standard of 15 inches for "large" fish will be held to be ridiculously 

 high. 



In reviewing the evidence afforded by our records, it has been 

 unnecessary for me to deal, except very briefly, with the biological 

 conditions affecting the question of the protection of small fish. The 

 matter has already been discussed at some length by Mr. Stead, whose 

 conclusions are in essential agreement with those which I have 

 repeatedly put forward on previous occasions. 



