NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 173 
to market by a yawl, but were condemned as unfit for food. A 
similar fate befell a consignment of Iceland plaice which reached the 
market by steamer, vid Norway, on the same date, the 11th April. 
They were in very bad condition, and it is doubtful whether such 
consignments would pay expenses in any case, 
As I did not commence to collect statistics of both large and small 
plaice until April, 1893, 1t is only possible to compare the catches of 
1892 and 1893 by making use of the Board of Trade returns. In 
the figures given for 1892 (Journal, 1895, p. 84) only the “small” 
are from my own observations, the boxes of other specification being 
derived by converting the weight given in the Board of Trade 
returns into boxes, and eliminating the number of boxes of “ small” 
which appear in my own records. As it is therefore probable that 
some error exists in the 1892 returns, from inaccuracy of the official 
figures or of conversion of weight into boxes, I put forward the 
following results with all due reserve : 
1892. Six months, May to October, total, 86,000 boxes. 
1898. »» »» » 3» 125,000 _,, 
The apparent increase of 39,000 boxes looks promising enough, 
but is considerably discounted when we find that no less than 
30,000 is due to an increase of Iceland fish, leaving a North Sea 
increase of only 9000 boxes. Hxamining the columns of large and 
small, a rough calculation being made, as in the case of the totals, 
for the days omitted, we find a total of 71,000 “large” and 22,000 
“small” for 1893, as against 73,000 “large”? and 11,000 “ small ” 
for 1892. 
The increase, therefore, is entirely confined to Iceland and 
“small ’’ North Sea fish, while in “large”? North Sea fish there is a 
deficit of 2000 boxes. 
Comparing the numbers of “large ’’ month for month in the two 
years, the fluctuations are much in the same proportion, the chief 
exception being in July and August. In 1892 nearly two thirds of 
the total catch of these two months was obtained in the first of them, 
whereas in 1893 rather more were caught in August than in July. 
That plaice are actually decreasing in the North Sea is a fact so 
generally recognised thatit hardly needs illustration, but the present 
scarcity may not be so apparent from figures dealing with ageregate 
catches as it becomes when we examine the catches of individual 
boats. In examining the total figures 1t must be borne in mind that 
the fishing power is enormous, our own large fleet being supple- 
mented not only by foreigners, but by vessels hailing from other 
British ports, such as Scarborough, Shields, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and 
even Milford Haven. 
The scarcity is most felt in the winter months, when, for whatever 
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