306 TKAWLING IN BAYS ON THE SOUTH COAST OF DEVON. 



The number of soles entered in our records is too small to be reduced 

 to percentages, but it is apparent that no " unsaleable " fish were taken 

 except in May and July. A sole, as we have seen, ceases to be a " slip " 

 at about the size at which it becomes capable of reproducing its species; 

 and out of the total of 103 fish taken in all hauls we find only 23 

 mature. None of them exceed the very modest length of 14 inches. 

 The best sole ground, according to my information, is along the inner 

 edge of the Skerries. Hence our operations, mostly conducted over 

 different ground, cannot be said to be fully representative. I shall 

 have occasion to allude to this matter later on. 



Sand soles {Soka lascaris) are of little importance unless taken 

 in large numbers and of the full size of about 10 or 12 inches. The 

 so-called lemon sole or merry sole (Phuroneetes microcephalus) is 

 apparently too scarce in the bay to demand attention. The few turbot 

 and brill taken were all immature, and too small to be very valuable. 

 If cod ever form an important item of a trawler's catch in the bay our 

 records furnish no evidence of the fact. Whiting, when encountered, 

 were mostly immature, and nearly all so small as to be hardly worth 

 catching. Dories were few and mostly immature and unsaleable, but 

 the destruction of the young of this species appears to be much less 

 here than on offshore grounds generally. Tub gurnards were hardly 

 plentiful at any season, and, while the majority were unsaleable, the 

 total does not comprise a single full-grown fish. Grey gurnards, 

 abundant at times, were mostly unsaleable, except in December, when 

 only a few were large enough to command the full price. These fish 

 are addicted to rather sudden rovings, so that there is always some 

 risk of error in results deducted from a small number of observations 

 of their capture. Such as it is, our evidence suggests that large 

 numbers of immature forms are liable to be destroyed by trawling 

 in the bay in summer and autumn, without any adequate compensation 

 in the capture of marketable material. Red gurnards, as might be 

 supposed, are not found in the shallow part of the bay ; Parrot 

 gurnards, or " Polperro bull-dogs," only as occasional immigrants from 

 the deeper water which they habitually affect. 



With regard to rays, we have no evidence of the supply in October 

 and December. Painted rays do not appear to be common in the 

 spring and summer. Homelyns are only represented by small ex- 

 amples. Blondes are rarer, and, relative to the adult size, very small. 

 Thornbacks are the most numerous, and some are of good size ; but it 

 may be said of all rays that while the supply in spring and summer 

 appears hardly sufficient to be remunerative, the proportion of unsaleable 

 specimens is very considerable. 



