79 



It is a problem therefore which cannot be answered without 

 further enquiry. It will be sufficient in the meantime to draw 

 attention to what appears to be substantiated that the benefit of 

 the by-law is confined to Northumberland and to a distance of 

 say 10 miles south of the area protected. 



From their own experiences during the last ten years the 

 Northumberland fishermen are convinced that the improvement 

 in the lobster fishing is due to the protection of the berried lobster, 

 and certainly no other reason for the improvement than that which 

 I have given has been advanced. It will be seen also that were it 

 not for the improvement at Sunderland the condition of the North- 

 Eastem district would be much worse than it is. The protection 

 of the berried lobster in Northumberland and in other districts 

 has been long enough in operation to afford a useful and important 

 indication of its efficacy. Yet in spite of these local lessons in 

 legislation the Board proposes to protect lobsters by making a 

 general size Umit of 8 J inches, and to increase the hmit as experience 

 may determine. In Northumberland and in the North-Eastern 

 district the limit at present is 9 inches. It is interesting in this 

 connexion to point out that in the Eastern district (to the south 

 of that of the North-Eastern Committee) the limit is only 8 inches, 

 the berried lobster, however, bemg protected. In that district 

 the productiveness has steadily increased if not so rapidly as in 

 Northumberland. A consideration of this ought to show that the 

 protection of the berried lobster is far more important than gradually 

 raising the size hmit. 



As I have stated more than once before, the protection of the 

 berried lobster is a sensible step which the fishermen understand 

 and approve of. It is easily carried out, and if made universal 

 would improve the productiveness of the lobster fisheries around the 

 coast. The only objection which has been urged against it, and 

 which seems to have appealed to those in authority, is that the 

 fishermen would try to evade it by stripping the berries from the 

 lobsters. If it were made illegal to land a berried lobster by an 

 Act I am convinced that this would not happen, and in any case it 

 ought to be made pubhc that the berries cannot be removed without 

 so injuring the lobster that the offence can be readily detected. 



