THE IMMATURE FISH QUESTION. 5h 
As regards territorial waters : 
(1) On many fishing-grounds, from the Moray Firth to Grimsby, 
there has been a falling off in the takes of flat-fish, both as regards 
quantity and quality. 
(2) There has also been a decrease in the takes of haddock in 
certain places, chiefly in bays and estuaries. 
As regards off-shore waters : 
(3) No decrease, except in the case of soles, has been proved in 
the total takes of the North Sea. 
Now let us turn to the statistics that have since been collected. 
The return for the year 1892 is not yet issued,* so that we have only 
six years to compare altogether ; and this is a very short period to 
draw conclusions from, even if the statistics furnished all the 
particulars that were required to show the increase or decrease of the 
supply. The table below shows the total quantities in cwts. of the 
England and Wales—all Coasts. 
1886 | 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 | 1892 
Brill oa 15,403, 16,571. 17,740 
Turbot . 59,850 63,166 55,041) 58,576, 51,879 56,875 62,6380 
Soles . : .| 98,078) 85,316, 72,522! 74,143) 72,129) 82,688) 72,821 
Other prime fish .| 370,014 115,850, 113,415) 35,982) 46,771) 38,754 50,655 
Total prime fish | 527,942) 264,332) 240,978, 163,701} 186,182, 194,888) 203,846 
Plaice . : | — _ 698,142) 594,307) 622,577, 711,322) 696,227 
6,412,433 6,029,481 6,348,072 6,464,564 6,100,630 5,966,076 6,485,699 
All fish Caeea 
shellfish . cd 
Total, excluding } 
Pelinonii s 6,397,367 6,012,371 6,340,774/6,460,064/6,095,512; — — 
Total value, sh £ 
cluding shellfish [ £/3:688,079 3,778,958 3,948,013|3,862,389 4,368,552 4,491,018 4,628,705 
Drift-net fish . .|2,740,579 2,080,435 2,299,383]1,428,118 1,291,661/1,789,561 2,059,062 
Bottom fish . . 3,671,854 3,949,046 4,048,689 5,036,446 4,808,969 4,176,515|4,4.26,637 
more valuable flat-fish landed on the coasts of England and Wales, and 
includes certain other items from the official tables. It will be seen 
* See postscript. 
