388 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 



III. Eemedial Measures. 



It will be admitted that the continued destruction of large 

 numbers of valuable fish before they have had a chance of repro- 

 ducing their species can only result in increased deterioration 

 of the industry, and that some measures must be taken to put 

 a stop to it, unless we are prepared, and able, by artificial pro- 

 pagation to re-stock the sea as fast as we deplete it. Briefly the 

 various proposals that have been put forward fall under three head- 

 ings, viz. closure of grounds frequented by small fish, restriction of 

 sale of undersized fish, and enlargement or alteration of mesh. We 

 have seen that some of the smack-owners have adopted the emi- 

 nently practical method of forbidding their boats to fish where they 

 are likely to catch much small stuff ; but the buyers, though as loud 

 as any in their outcry, do not appear inclined to avail themselves of 

 their undoubted power to check the evil. The proposals for legis- 

 lative action have been so much discussed of late that I need only 

 advert to such as affect the North Sea district. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that the bulk of the destruc- 

 tion by deep-sea trawlers takes place on the eastern grounds, to 

 which I have alluded elsewhere ; and since these lie wholly or in part 

 outside the three-mile limit, it has been proposed that they shall be 

 closed to trawling by international agreement. Whether such agree- 

 ment could ever be arrived at is questionable ; and if it were, it is 

 not likely that the ensuing legislation could be easily enforced. The 

 great extent of the grounds would involve an enormous and costly 

 Marine Police force, of mixed nationality ; and even were such a 

 body much more efficient than one has any reason to expect, there 

 might be considerable difficulty in adequately watching grounds 

 which extend in some cases over fifty miles from shore. Indeed, 

 on our own coasts and elsewhere the success with which legisla- 

 tion limited to the territorial area has hitherto been enforced is 

 hardly such as to encourage us to extend the principle to the 

 open sea. 



The various standards of size which have been advocated, in pro- 

 posals for prohibiting the sale or possession of undersized fish, 

 differ according as the subject has been treated with regard to 

 the marketable qualities of the fish, or to its powers of reproduction ; 

 and it may be assumed, I suppose, without argument that the latter 

 is the more rational method of treatment. Still it may be as well 

 to recapitulate the sizes proposed at the Fishery Conference at 

 Fishmongers' Hall last February, since they may be taken to repre- 

 sent the -Tiost recent trade opinion on the subject. 



