310 TUAWLING IN BAYS ON THE SOUTH COAST OF DEVON. 



Our list contains a few kinds of fish not entered in Table III. As in 

 the case of Start Bay, the deleterious kinds are not sufficiently numerous 

 to demand attention, and the others need not here concern us. 



It will be noticed that the proportions of plaice fluctuate throughout 

 the seasons in a rather irregular manner. This may in part be due to 

 the paucity of our material in January, only 58 fish being recorded. 

 Another explanation, however, is forthcoming, viz., that January is the 

 spawning season, when the bulk of the big fish are out on the spawning 

 grounds, about 15 miles off Berry Head (if I am rightly informed on 

 this point). If plaice spawn at all in Torbay it is contrary to anything 

 that I know of the general habit of the species, so that during the 

 spawning season one would expect to find there only immature fish and 

 a few of the smaller mature ones, which, speaking broadly, ripen later 

 in the season than their larger brethren. This, in effect, is the condition 

 actually indicated by our record. To correspond with the numerical 

 abundance in March, the January figures should be much higher, but 

 the weather in the earlier month was not propitious. The fish taken 

 were in good condition, but 43 per cent, were unsaleable. 



In ]\Iarch the proportion of both unsaleable and immature fish falls 

 considerably, though both remain high. The fall may be presumed to 

 be in part accounted for by the return of spent fish from the spawning 

 grounds. The mature fish were noted to be in very poor condition, 

 " running away to water," as the skipper of the Thistle expressed it. 

 In June the proportion of "unsaleable" rises very perceptibly, but it 

 must be admitted that in haul vii. we gave the Ridge rather a wider 

 berth, and so hauled closer to the shore than is usual with professional 

 trawlers. The percentage of immature fish shows a corresponding rise 

 in this month. 



In July we found the Eidge unfit for trawling owing to the great 

 quantity of drift weed, so made our second haul, a very short one, in 

 the central part of the bay. Here plaice were numerous, but small and 

 nearly all immature. The few that we got round the Eidge comprised 

 a reasonable proportion of good fish, but the two hauls, taken together, 

 put the proportion of immature rather higher than in. June of the 

 previous year. In November (1895) fish seem to have been scarce. 

 More than half were immature, but few were unsaleable. I believe, 

 from experience elsewhere, that it is not unusual for the big fish to 

 draw away from the shore in this month to re-assemble later on in 

 the spawning grounds. 



Around the Eidge, as may be gathered from Table III., dabs are cer- 

 tainly less numerous than plaice, except (always ?) in January. In the 

 central part of the bay this condition is reversed, but the proportion of 

 unsaleable fish is very high throughout the year. It reaches its lowest 



