35 



PROTECTION OF THE LOBSTER, 



By a. meek. 



In the Annual Report of Proceedings under Acts relating to 

 Sea Fisheries for the year 1910, published in April, 1912, the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries give the results of the 

 enquiry made as to the size, sex, and condition of lobsters, with 

 a view to providing a " solid basis of fact " for the consideration 

 of the question of further protection of lobsters. The matters 

 discussed, and the conclusions come to are of the greatest 

 importance to the Fishery Committees of England, and not the 

 least to the Northumberland Committee, since the question of 

 the protection of the lobster has been fully considered at the 

 meetings, and has been the subject of investigations now 

 extending over a ;^eriod of more than fifteen years at the Marine 

 Laboratory. The results of the investigations have been 

 published in the annual reports from year to year, and in the 

 report for 1904 w^ere brought together in a special ]3aper to 

 which the Board refers, and the important conclusions have 

 been illustrated by papers in several of the subsequent reports, 

 the last being in the report for 1909-1910. With a view there- 

 fore to adding to the information famished by the Board, the 

 following analysis and criticism of the paper may be ventured 

 upon. 



A table is first given showing the catches for England and 

 Wales for each year during the period 1900-1909. From this it 

 appears there has been a falling off for the east and w^est coasts, 

 and an increase on the south coast. This is followed by a table 

 giving the catches for 1907-1910 for each of the Committee's 

 districts. From these tables it is seen that the south coast is 

 the most important, the landings being usually more than equal 

 to the other two coasts together, and that on the east coast the 

 most lobsters are landed in the Northumberland district. 



