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APPENDIX. 



Memorandiun on the Results of Investigations into the Contents of 

 Certain Bays on the South Coast of Devon. 



Submitted for the Information of the Sub-Committee of Enquiry Appointed 

 BY the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee (September, 1896). 



By 



F. B. Stead, B.A., 



Assistant Naturalist on the Staff of the Marine Biological Association. 



In the following Memorandum I propose to lay before the Sub-Committee 

 of Enquiry, appointed by the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee, certain facts 

 with regard to the contents of two of the bays on the South Coast of Devon, 

 in which I have conducted trawling experiments, and then to point out the 

 bearing of these facts on the practical questions before the Committee. 



I. The experiments, to which reference will be made, were conducted at 

 different times during the months of October to December of last year (1895); 

 and the bays investigated were Start and Teignmouth Bays. The trawling 

 smack Thistle, of Brixham, was engaged by the Association for the purposes of 

 the investigation. All the food-fish which came on board were measured to 

 the nearest quarter of an inch. The results of the several hauls were tabulated 

 and compared with one another, and though these were not as many as I 

 should have desired, the results obtained are such as to lead me to suppose 

 that a fairly correct idea was gained of the relative numbers of fish of 

 different sizes, belonging to the different species, which any similarly 

 equipped vessel, fishing on the same grounds at that time of year, might be 

 expected to catch. It is, of course, quite possible that there is a certain 

 amount of variation in the numbers of fish of different sizes inhabiting these 

 bays from year to year; and in considering the results which will be given 

 below, this fact must be borne in mind. 



The first fact which comes out clearly as the result of these experiments is, 

 that plaice and dabs are far more numerously represented than any other 

 species. Compared to the destruction of plaice and dabs effected by trawling, 



