180 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 
and cod. On the other hand, a rather large quantity of undersized 
haddock, whiting, and gurnard were thereby destroyed; while the 
destruction of small plaice, though not great in actual numbers, was 
very considerable in regard to the local supply of this species. 
It is evident, therefore, that there is a prima facie case against 
trawling on these grounds at this time of the year, merely because 
the waste is in excess of the products. We may consider the matter 
from another point of view, viz. whether the consumer can be 
adequately provided by means other than trawling. This question 
may be so limited as to deal only with the soles, since these are 
the only important product which cannot obviously be obtained with- 
out encroaching on the three-mile limit ; and here we find an answer 
in the affirmative. While our best night’s fishing yielded only 163 
pairs, and our catch was usually much less, 25 and 18 pairs were 
respectively taken by two cobles line-fishing on these grounds during 
one night of our stay at Scarborough. Such success was not excep- 
tional, and I do not think a coble ever caught so little as we did on 
any one night. ‘That the catches of the “Garland” are no fair test 
of what may be achieved by trawling is an objection which may be 
urged with some show of reason so far as concerns any one night’s 
fishing, since it is well known that a sailing vessel will trawl more 
soles than a steamer if both are fishing side by side over the same 
eround. But when we consider the dependency of a smack on the 
wind, and the intricacy of these particular grounds, I think it may 
fairly be assumed that a sailing vessel would not have materially 
improved upon our aggregate catch during the week. I therefore 
consider that the interests of the consumer can be sufficiently served 
by line-fishing. 
Policy in fishing matters is too often degraded to the merely social 
aspect of the case, viz. the relative claims of local and other fisher- 
men, or of the local liners and trawlers when the two industries 
co-exist in the same fishing community. With this I have nothing 
whatever to do, but may remark that, according to my own experi- 
ence, one class is burdened with about as much providence and 
public spirit as the other. 
I did not neglect, while at Scarborough, to make inquiries as to 
the effect which the territorial restriction of trawling was thought to 
have had on the inshore line-fishery, but as evidence on this subject 
was given before the Parliamentary Inquiry, in some cases by the 
men who were my own informants, I need only refer to the matter 
very briefly. It was asserted that the sole fishery had very greatly 
revived since trawling was forbidden in these waters, and I have no 
doubt that this is the case, It requires no argument to show that 
