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Destruction of Immature Pish. 



By 



Gilbert C. Bourne, M.A., F.L,.S., 



Fellow of New College, Oxford, and Resident Director of the Association. 



Among tlie questions on sea fishing wLicli are periodically and 

 pertinaciously brought forward by some people, there is none which 

 is more persistently paraded before the public than the wholesale 

 destruction by trawling and other means of immature food-fishes. 

 When questions of this kind are brought forward they are invariably 

 accompanied with demands for legislative interfereucCj and in this in- 

 stance it is demanded by some that beam trawling should be prohibited 

 within the three-mile limit ; by others that it should be prohibited 

 altogether at certain seasons ; by others, again, that shrimp trawling 

 should be forbidden ; and a fourth party, with some show of reason, 

 requires that certain specified areas should be closed against trawling 

 for a number of years. It is unnecessary to say that if any of these 

 prohibitive measures were adopted an important branch of the fishing 

 industry would be seriously affected, and it is well, before any cred- 

 ence is given to the statements of those who agitate in this matter, 

 that the whole subject should be put clearly before the public, that 

 the extent and the deficiency of our knowledge should be made 

 known, and that accurate observations should be placed alongside of 

 and compared with the more random statements of the would-be 

 legislators. 



In point of fact, very few observations of scientific accuracy have 

 been made. By far the most important contribution to the subject 

 is the report of Prof. Mcintosh, published in the Appendix to the 

 Report of the Royal Commissioners on Trawling in 1885. In addi- 

 tion to this, observations are being made by the oflicers of the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland, and some few have been made by the 

 Marine Biological Association, of which it is proposed to give an 

 account here. 



Before proceeding further with the subject, it is well to clear up 

 an ambiguity arising from the misuse of the word " immature.'" 

 Strictly speaking, an immature fish is a young fish which has never 

 developed ripe roe or milt. If it could be proved that great quan- 



