57 



tinental coast, and the young plaice are obtained in immense 

 numbers in and to the north of the Heligoland Bight, but are 

 spread from the coast of Holland to beyond Esbjerg of Denmark. 

 Outside this region the small plaice present distinct spring and 

 autumn maxima, pointing as in the other schools to an inward and 

 outward movement. This gradually gives place in mid-North 

 Sea to the less densely populated regions of the northern part of 

 the North Sea. Nevertheless there are many reasons apart from 

 those of distribution to show that this enormous school of plaice 

 or mingling of many schools of plaice of the south North Sea is 

 relatively self-contained and migrates with growth each season 

 more and more towards the English coast, the large plaice occur- 

 ring near the coast of England. 



In the deeper North Sea the plaice is so reduced in numbers 

 that in comparison the dab rises to a place of importance, which 

 it maintains because of direct increase in numbers in the southern 

 part of the North Sea. 



5.— STATISTICS OF PLAICE AND DAB. 



The catches made by the Northumberland inshore fishermen 

 are given in the following table. The details were piesented in 

 the Laboratory report for the year 1905, when a review of the 

 white fisheries of the county was published. The table now 

 submitted is meant only to show in summary fashion the annual 

 catches for the two districts of the county during the years 1895 

 to 1920. 



TABLE XIX. — Annual catches in cwts. of plaice and dabs by inshore fishermen in the 

 northern and southern districts of Northumberland. 



The figures are indicated graphically in figure 8, and the table 

 and the diagram show that the proportion and distribution already 



