OF THE GRIMSBY TRAWL FISHERY. 44.3 
enlarge it on grounds suitable to its habits at that period of exist- 
ence. In the case of flat-fish such ground would only be found on 
the sandy margins ; and are we to go to all this expense and trouble 
merely for the pleasure of seeing our precious nurselings scooped 
up and carted away by the first shore shrimper who passed that way ? 
I imagine the answer will be universally in the negative, and that 
it will be conceded that, before embarking on the culture of sea 
fish, we must take such measures as will materially lessen the pro- 
bability of the money thus expended being altogether wasted. 
My remarks have by no means included all the remedial proposi- 
tions which have been put forward, but I think we have noticed all 
which deserve serious attention, and perhaps some which do not. 
With the minor suggestions we cannot here concern ourselves at any 
great length, but may notice a scheme put forward by Mr. Douglas, 
of Grimsby. 
Mr. Douglas proposes to capture small plaice on the Eastern side, 
and transport them in well-vessels to the Dogger and to grounds 
on our own coast, and estimates that the cost of these operations 
would be amply covered by the increased catches of our trawlers. 
It is not at first sight apparent why the mere transference of fish 
from one part of the North Sea to another should increase the 
general supply. Putting this aside, and granting that the trans- 
ference can be successfully accomplished, it is not easy to see how 
the small fish will benefit. No doubt there are some grounds on 
our own coasts, which are capable of maintaining a much greater 
head of fish than they hold at present, and which are practically 
deserted by our trawlers. But, if we dump down an immense 
quantity of small fish there, what is to prevent boats coming there 
at once and catching them if there is no hindrance to their sale? 
As for the proposal of putting young fish on the Dogger, they are 
probably better off where they are in the summer (the only time at 
which they could be caught in anything like the numbers antici- 
pated by Mr. Douglas), and in the autumn they do migrate to the 
Dogger, as we have seen, of their own accord. ‘The plan of 
allowing them to do so in peace, by means of a suitable size limit, 
seems at once simpler and more efficacious than Mr. Douglas’s 
scheme of State-aided emigration. The most that can be said for 
the scheme is, that if the fish were protected by a size limit and by 
the closure to trawling of such of our inshore grounds as are plaice 
nurseries, the large plaice grounds lying in the neighbourhood of 
our own coast might probably be recuperated rather more quickly 
than by the protection alone. Without the protection the whole 
affair would simply be a waste of money. 
