106 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 
any very great extent on board a trawler. Though cod are some- 
what hardier, haddock, especially small ones, succumb very rapidly 
if kept out of water ; and it is certain that, even if they were attended 
to before the second trawl (where two are carried) was shot away, 
many out of a large catch would be beyond surgical aid before it 
arrived, FF lat-fish, on the other hand, are better fitted, by the 
structure of their gill-covers, to stand exposure to the air, and, in 
general conformation, to resist pressure, whilst they are, of course, 
subject to no difficulty arising from an air-bladder. Hence, since 
only moderate hauls are now to be obtained on any grounds other 
than the eastern, a large proportion of the undersized members of 
the hardier kinds would probably survive if returned. Of the less 
robust species, two, the common and long rough dabs, are of small 
account, and undersized specimens of the third, the witch, appear to 
be seldom.taken by our trawlers. 
To return to round-fish, If, as I hold, no great number of those 
taken in our large trawls would survive if returned, it would serve 
no useful purpose to throw them back. Hence the only possible 
remedy lies in some scheme of mesh restriction, as to which I am not 
prepared to make suggestions. Though, thanks to much assistance 
from Mr. Woodall, my inquiries as to relation between size and 
pattern of mesh and size of fish caught have made considerable 
progress, I do not consider them as yet complete or conclusive. 
It may be pointed out, however, that while it may be hoped that 
all immature whiting and at least a great proportion of immature 
haddock may be afforded a reasonable degree of protection by a 
successful adjustment of the mesh difficulty, there can be no hope by 
this method of protecting cod beyond a size which is far short of 
that at which sexual maturity is attained, and of course no net can 
be devised which will not be liable to get choked by weeds or other 
rubbish. Every one, I suppose, admits that a fish should have a 
chance of spawning before it is killed, but I really cannot say how 
this advantage is to be secured for the codfish. If it were possible 
to persuade those trawlers who, as I have shown, have been responsible 
for most of the destruction of codling during the past winter, that it 
would tend to their ultimate advantage to avoid the grounds most 
frequented by these fish, one might hope for a sensible mitigation of 
the evil. It is, however, sufficiently difficult to persuade a man of 
what is absolutely true, whereas, since adult cod are the prey of the 
liner rather than the trawler, the proposition perhaps hardly falls 
into such category. 
