74 THE IMMATURE FISH QUESTION. 
unmarketable, and this would not be affected by the establishment 
of a legal size limit. 
It seems to me that, apart from the question of the extra-terri- 
torial eastern grounds of the North Sea, if the capture of plaice 
could be prevented altogether in territorial waters in this country 
the fish would be protected to a most important extent, and the 
difficulty of interfering with the operations of deep sea trawlers 
would be avoided. At the same time beam trawling, except for 
shrimps, should not be allowed in territorial waters. There would 
be no greater difficulty in this than in preventing the capture of 
salmon by illegal nets, which has been done for years. Plaice taken 
by shrimp-net and seines can be returned to the water alive ; those 
taken by deep sea trawls, speaking broadly, cannot. The wanton 
destruction of plaice by shrimpers and seiners can be easily punished 
by the local committees. 
This proposal could not be carried out on the west coast of 
Ireland, where nearly all the available trawling-ground is inside the 
territorial limit. But there is no need for protection on that coast 
at present. 
I need not consider the question of the enlargement of the mesh, 
because on the south-west coast the deep sea trawlers refuse to con- 
sent to it, for the reason that with a larger mesh they would not 
catch thickbacks (Solea variegata), queens (Pecten opercularis), or 
squid (Loligo), which make part of the men’s earnings. 
In order to prevent destruction on the eastern grounds of the 
North Sea it would be necessary, without a size limit, to close the 
grounds wholly or partially by means of an international convention. 
It must be remembered that, as I have shown in the first portion 
of this paper, we have as yet no statistical evidence of a diminution 
in the supply of plaice, except a decrease in the total quantity 
landed on the sowth coast. Even Dr. Fulton’s figures do not include 
separate figures for plaice. 
Soles. 
The soles of which the particulars are contained in the following 
table (p. 75) were all taken by trawlers and purchased on the landing 
quay. Allof them were selected on account of their smallsize. The 
number is small, but the results are not likely to be greatly altered 
by examination of a larger number. ‘There are no immature males 
among them. The smallest mature female is 12 inches long, the 
largest immature is 13 inches. Mr. Holt found in the North Sea 
no immature females above 12 inches, while his smallest mature 
female was only 10 inches long. Perhaps the soles on the south-west 
