NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS, 289 
Plaice.—The statistics are continued from the end of April, 1894; 
as stated above, the eight days missed in May were at the beginning 
of the month. 
North Sea. Iceland. 
Total No. —_—wue ————“——-——., ———=_—oa«c“——. 
Month. of Boxes. Total. “Large.” | “Small.” | No.o f No. of 
Boxes. * Voyages.” 
1894. I. Tike TT. Iv. v. VI. 
May (less 8 days) ...... 12,729 9,612 5,393 4,219 3,117 25 
MUNG etre vedeeseuersteceents 15,939 13,181 8,439 4,742 2,758 21 
July (less 3 days) ...... 14,304 11,295 9,034 2,261 3,009 19 
August (less 1 day) ...| 16,616 15,950 14,617 1,333 666 5 
September (less 3 days)! 15,503 | 15,503 | 14,663 840 ns 
In the last number of this Journal (p. 171) I entered at some 
length into the question of the diversion of fishing power from one 
point to another, which is revealed by comparison of the different 
columns in the above table. The same reasoning is of course 
applicable to the present season ; and while we note from the close 
similarity of column iv in 1893 and 1894 that the “small” fish 
grounds were worked to about the same extent in the two years, the 
great diminution of column vi in July and August of 1894 shows 
that considerably more power was available in those months for the 
augmentation of column 1. ‘here is an actual increase of about 
3000 boxes in the aggregate of the two months in 1894 ; but such an 
increase is of no great significance when we take into account not 
only the number of boats available from the diminution of column v1, 
but also the steady annual increase in trawling power generally. 
It will have been gathered from my previous remarks that the Iceland 
grounds are worked by steam vessels only (as far as trawling is 
concerned) ,while the “ small” fish are chiefly contributed in the later 
part of the summer by fleets of sailing smacks. During the present 
year the usual practice of forming a large fleet, to land fish by 
steam cutters at London, has been discontinued, so that during the 
fleeting season the number of vessels landing at Grimsby has been 
proportionately greater. A very large Fishing Company belonging 
to the port habitually “ fleets” throughout the year, its fish being 
landed in London, and therefore finding no place in my records.* 
The Iceland trawl fishery cannot be said to have been satisfactory 
during the present season, In the early part, especially in May, 
boats had for the first time a difficulty in finding their fish. In 
previous years the only difficulty had been in getting a fair price for 
* A cutter occasionally lands at Grimsby when coming in for stores or other purpose, 
but I do not include the fish in these returns, since to do so would tend to confusion in the 
deduction of results, 
