412 EXAMINATION OF THE PRESENT STATE 
trawler’s haul is about six hours, but some skippers make even a 
shorter average haul. On intricate ground the haul must be shorter, 
and averages about three hours. The hauls made by smacks when 
single-boating are rather longer, averaging about seven hours on 
open and five hours on intricate grounds. Fleeting smacks make, 
I believe, rather longer hauls as a rule. On the Hastern grounds, 
especially when there is a ‘‘ body ” of small fish, the hauls are gene- 
rally rather short. 
But granted that the small fish comes aboard alive and well, it by 
no means follows that it regains its native element in the same 
condition. The chances are that, on a steam-vessel, the bag of fish 
is left swinging about from the derrick for a quarter of an hour or 
so while the crew are occupied in shooting the second trawl, so that 
the whole weight of the catch is on the undermost fish. Then the 
cod-end is untied, and down comes the whole collection with a crash 
on to the deck, which cannot be particularly healthy for the small 
ones. Ona smack which only carries one trawl, if the position is 
favourable for shooting again without a long beat up to windward, 
all hands set to work to get the trawl cleared, and mended, if neces- 
sary, before the fish receive any attention. When there is time to 
attend to the fish it is done in the manner calculated to take least 
time. ‘The turbot must be picked out and bled as soon as possible, 
and all the marketable fish are cleaned, or at least sorted in sepa- 
rate pounds on the deck, before the small stuff and rubbish is 
shovelled overboard. On a fleeting smack it may be necessary to 
pack all the big fish for transference to the cutter before anything 
else can be done; and in any case, though some small plaice are 
occasionally alive when pitched overboard, and though I have known 
a more than usually provident skipper pick out and return a few 
small plaice, and even moderately large turbot, it may be taken that 
if a fish is caught by a deep-sea trawler, it is done for, whether it 
comes to market or not. 
A few words as to the share of different vessels in the destruction 
may not be amiss. It can be best illustrated, I think, by the 
records of a single month. I have not kept my returns in suffi- 
cient detail to give particulars for the whole period. 
In May, 1893, there were landed at Grimsby 7644 boxes of 
“small” plaice from the Hastern grounds. Of these, 5587 boxes 
were contributed by steam-trawlers in twenty-nine voyages, viz. 
twenty-two voyages by British and seven by foreign steam-trawlers. 
The remaining 1738 boxes were landed by smacks. Some of the 
smacks were ‘“‘ single-boating,’’? but most of the stuff was derived 
from three fleets working the Terschelling sole ground and eastwards 
to Borkum. I have not the exact numbers by me, but certainly 
