82 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 
the largest number. I understand that the vessels ceased “ fleeting ” 
some time during this month, but some of them continued to work 
the same ground while “single boating.” Only one steam trawler 
brought in small plaice—viz. 295 boxes in three trips. 
In October the total falls suddenly to 295 boxes, of which 133 
were contributed by a Hamburg steam trawler, fishing to and from 
Grimsby on account of the cholera at home. Before this the German 
steam-vessels do not seem to have molested the small plaice much, I 
do not know whence the bulk of the small fish caught this month was 
derived, except that part, and I believe a large part, came from the 
Terschelling ground, where the very minute fish are not found. 
Examination of the catches brought in from this ground during the 
whole of the season failed to reveal any noticeable increase in size, 
and since we know that individual fish grow rather rapidly, the 
inference is that there is a constant succession, the fish passing from 
shallow to deeper water as they grow larger. 
October is the last month (for 1892) of the small plaice fishery, 
and, indeed, it may be said that the season was practically over in 
September. In November and December no boxes containing only 
small fish were observed in the market. 
About October a migration of fine plaice to the grounds lying off 
the “ Holman ” (Hantsholm) lighthouse is always expected, and 
occurred in 1892 as usual. In the same neighbourhood in the 
summer only small fish can now be obtained, and these rather 
closer inshore than the fine autumn fish; but, as I have been 
told by many old fishermen, all the grounds north of the Horn 
Reef formerly yielded fine fish in the summer, without any 
very small ones; thus forming a contrast to the more southern 
grounds along the east coast, where small fish seem always to have 
abounded, though plenty of fine examples are said to have been also 
obtainable. In fact, my information goes to the effect that the 
wholesale destruction of small fish on these grounds had been going 
on every summer for many years (ever since about 1830, when 
British trawling vessels seem first to have taken to fishing the 
Dutch grounds) before it attracted public attention. It escaped 
notice for this reason,—that as long as the supply of fine fish held 
out, the small ones, which were at least as numerous as they are now, 
were shovelled overboard, and thus never made their appearance in 
the market. The same thing is going on at the present day, only 
the items of the catch which are too small for the present market 
are indeed minute. 
In January, 1893, twenty-one boxes, and in February forty-seven 
boxes of small plaice were observed in the market, but of these a 
considerable proportion were not derived from Grimsby boats. The 
