OF THE GRIMSBY TRAWL FISHERY. 397 
sizes from about 4 inches up to 12, and in less numbers up to 
14 inches. Larger fish are extremely scarce there; indeed, I 
only know of a solitary instance of the occurrence of a 17-inch 
plaice in the estuary. The same restriction of size applies to the 
shallow sandy inshore water of our own coast, whether estu- 
arine or not, and on the vast shallow expanses of the Continental 
coast the great majority of the plaice do not exceed a length 
of 13 inches. On the Terschelling fishing ground, where the boats 
do not go very close inshore, I do not think there are many fish of 
less than 8 inches, but further north our vessels get a great many 
from only 4 inches upwards. ‘There is always a certain proportion, 
not a large one by any means, of fish up to about 15 inches on these 
Eastern grounds, with occasionally a very much smaller number of 
large fish ; and large fish are found on certain rough patches quite 
close to the small-fish grounds. 
The small fish are plentiful on the grounds from some time in 
March, if the spring is forward, until the autumn, and a bright 
calm day in winter is said to bring them out, while heavy weather 
from the south-west will cause them to disappear. Trawlers imagine, 
I know not with what reason, that they emerge from and retreat to 
the ‘‘lakes ”’ inside the barrier islands ; also that they bury them- 
selves. The former theory, at all events, is very probably in 
accordance with facts. 
So far we have seen the young plaice, after the completion of its 
larval metamorphosis, confined to an immediately littoral or estuarine 
habitat. It remains to be seen at what period they pass into the 
open sea, or into the more central regions thereof. On our own 
coast there is no obvious migration, but as the fish are never found 
in the river or bay beyond a certain size, it may be supposed that 
in the autumn the larger representatives pass out to sea, never to 
return ; and it may be noted that there is a certain correspondence 
between the size at which they leave the river and that at which 
the first symptoms of approaching maturity begin to manifest 
themselves, though some proportion, I imagine, must spend another 
year on the offshore grounds before their reproductive organs begin 
to mature. 
On the Continental coast, where the numbers of small fish are 
very much larger than on our own, there is a most definite migra- 
tion seawards, and every autumn our trawlers are certain of finding 
a great catch of plaice between the Dogger and the Eastern grounds. 
The fish are small, but their sizes correspond to those of the largest 
of the fish on the adjacent inshore grounds, none of the very small 
ones being present. There can be no doubt, I think, that they are 
the largest of the brood making their first journey to the haunts of 
