OF THE GRIMSBY TRAWL FISHERY. 381 
limit for the former district to be 15 inches, and has found mature 
females only 11 inches long. 
Lemon soles appear to mature at a very small size on the South- 
west Coast, as Cunningham records mature females of only 7 
inches. These were the smallest he could procure, and none of the 
fish he examined were immature. 
The common sole is usually larger on the South-west Coast than 
in the North Sea, to judge from consignments which arrive at 
Grimsby from the district first mentioned, and Cunningham records 
no mature females of less than 12 inches, while his largest immature 
specimens measured 13 inches. 
As for turbot and brill, there is not sufficient evidence to show 
that any difference exists as between the two districts, but very few 
specimens could be obtained for examination at Plymouth. 
Having reviewed the evidence as to the definition of sexual imma- 
turity, we must now consider the commercial aspect of the question, 
and the first definition of the term “immature ” of which I am aware 
was embodied in a resolution by a Conference of those engaged in the 
Kast Coast fishing trade, held at Hull in 1890. It was resolved that 
the term immature fish should be interpreted to mean “ a sole which 
measures less than 10 inches, a turbot or brillwhich measures less than 
12 inches, and a plaice which measures less than 12 inches.’ This may 
be taken to represent the North Sea view. It is not wholly a trade 
interpretation, since plaice and soles of less than 12 inches are sale- 
able ; it represents rather a standard of size below which the North 
Sea trade considered it inexpedient that fish should be destroyed. 
However, at the London Conference held under the auspices of 
the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association in 1892, the trade re- 
presentation was not confined to the North Sea, but delegates attended 
from all parts of the United Kingdom, and the standards of size 
recommended by the Hast Coast trade by no means recommended 
themselves to every one. ‘The representatives of the South and South- 
west Coasts in particular considered the standard a good deal too 
high, especially in the case of plaice, but with a laudable, though 
as I think mistaken, desire for harmony, the various parties agreed 
to a compromise, and the resolution finally adopted by the Conference 
of 1892 fixed the sizes as follows : 
Plaice ; ; - . 10 inches 
Soles ; ; seetO Syn, 
Turbot é ‘ eels» 2. 
Brill ‘ : ain ND 
3) 
Lemon soles. ‘ oe: ee 
