82 THE REV. R. F. WHEELER, M.A., 
the subject, that the practice of trawling is as adverse to its own 
prosperity as to the fishing by hook and line, since, for one fish 
carried to market, many hundreds are destroyed; so that trawling 
itself must end at last by its own acts. But this is poor con- 
solation to the public, who, now that the railroad could convey 
them rapidly and cheaply, might be supplied abundantly, if fish 
were as abundant as formerly.” 
Mr. J. G. Williamson, of Billingsgate, writes:—“TI believe 
that the destruction of small fish and spawn by the trawl is one 
of the causes of the scarcity of fish as regards our own coasts 
the trawl retaining so much of the smaller fish as it does. ; 
IT am sure that if any one understanding fisheries were to see the 
small soles and other small fish sold in Billingsgate market, and 
which is often disposed of for less than it cost for carriage, would 
soon come to the conclusion that something ought to be done. 
I believe, if the wholesale destruction of small fish that now 
takes place is continued, that in the course of a few years the 
fisheries on our coast will suffer very materially.” 
An extensive wholesale firm of Billingsgate report that ‘the 
fish caught by trawling is not either so good in quality or con- 
dition as that caught by hook or floating nets.” The Rey. 
J. Wilcox, of Fowey, in Cornwall, states that ‘the destruc- 
tion caused by the trawl is most terrible to contemplate. The 
trawl aes sty he before it. The destruction of spawn is 
immense.’ 
I now come to the evidence of a man who was himself 
the captain of a trawler. He stated to me that “when the 
trawl is pulled up, such fish as haddocks are found to be 
completely scaled. They are obliged to be gutted at once, other- 
wise, owing to the bursting of the gall bladder, they would be- 
come quite black or green, and be utterly unsaleable. Dividing 
a haul of the trawl into three parts, one part would be fit for 
food; another would be quite small and immature fish; while 
the third would be utterly useless. He has sometimes thrown 
overboard as many as 7,000 or 8,000 fish at once. As to spawn, 
on one occasion while he had three tons of spawn, as he esti- 
mated by the weight of the trawl, in his net, he had only, besides 
