AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION AT DIFFERENT AGES. 117 



" scruff" to escape. However^ together with the scruff, on certain 

 grounds large quantities of so-called queens [Pecten opercularis) are 

 taken, and these are eaten to a considerable extent by the poorer 

 people. These would probably not be caught by a 3-inch mesh, and 

 their loss would have to be considered. I do not believe that it 

 would be of much use to return to the sea the under- sized fish 

 taken in the deep-sea trawl, leaving the mesh unaltered. It is true 

 that most of the small fish are alive when brought on deck ; they 

 flap about and move when touched, but by the pressure of the great 

 mass that the trawl contains, the violent concussions of this mass 

 against the sides and bulwarks of the vessel, the sudden fall of the 

 mass on deck when the end of the trawl is opened, and the tramp- 

 ling of the heavy boots of the crew as they handle the gear, the 

 majority of the small fish are so much injured, especially in rough 

 weather, that a great many of them would die sooner or later if 

 thrown overboard. 



The inshore fishing which destroys young fish consists principally 

 of shrimp-trawling, fishing with small fish-trawls, and ground-sein- 

 ing. The shrimp trawls in Plymouth Sound take numerous small 

 soles which ought not to be taken. This would be prevented if it 

 were made illegal to keep them, because these fish are not in the 

 least injured when brought up in the trawl. The ground-seines 

 destroy large numbers of small plaice and flounders in the Cattewater 

 and Hamoaze, but I have been informed by Mr. Henry Clark, who 

 holds exclusive fishing rights in the upper part of the Cattewater, 

 that fish of all kinds have grown very scarce there in recent years, 

 probably, in his opinion, in consequence of the pollution of the estu- 

 ary by manure and china-clay refuse. The ground-seines are used 

 chiefly for the purpose of catching mullet and bass, and there 

 would be no difliculty in compelling the fishermen who use them to 

 return small fiat fishes to the water, for these fishes are not injured 

 in the process of capture by this method. The small fish trawls 

 are worked by small sailing-boats in Whitsand Bay and Bigbury 

 Bay. Their most valuable produce consists of small turbot and 

 brill, and they take more under-sized fish of all kinds in proportion 

 to the total catch than the deep-sea trawls. I think this kind of 

 fishing should be prohibited altogether, at least in certain areas. 

 The inshore bays should be strictly preserved as nurseries for young 

 plaice, dorys, turbot, and other fish, which are at present captured 

 in them. The Cornwall County Council has passed a bye-law pro- 

 hibiting steam trawling in territorial waters within its district. It 

 seems to me that this is a perfectly justifiable measure in relation 

 to what it does, but not in relation to what it leaves undone. Small 

 steamers, and tugs at times, when they are not employed in their 



