392 NORTH SEA I>'VESTIGATTONS. 



I must leave to others, vrho are acquainted with the local condi- 

 tions, to decide whether the imposition of a size limit is desirable 

 in other districts, but for the Xorth Sea I have not the slightest 

 hesitation in recommending this method of legislation, in the terms 

 I have proposed above, as cheaper and likely to be infinitely more 

 efficacious than any other that can be devised in maintaining the 

 supply of the more important kinds of flat-fish. I need hardly 

 observe that its application to the halibut, which is chiefly a line 

 fish, could not fail to be beneficial to that species, since there is 

 no question but that fish caught on the hook will usually survive if 

 returned ;* but I do not think that the limit need be as high as the 

 biological one, owing to the difference in the conditions of the trawl 

 and line fisheries. 



I am not prepared to enter at present into the question of mesh 

 legislation, beyond pointing out that it appears to be the only 

 method by which the destruction of immature round fish, notably 

 haddock and whiting, can be checked, since these species are fatally 

 injured by beinor causrht in the trawl, and would not survive if 

 returned. Any great enlargement of the mesh does not appear 

 advisable, since it would afford an opportunity of escape to the 

 mature sole, of which that active species would be extremely likely 

 to avail itself. The remedy seems to lie rather in an alteration of 

 the arrangement of the meshes in the cod-ends, so as to prevent 

 them from closing. On this subject I have been making investiga- 

 tions, but they are not yet sufficiently complete to yield reliable 

 deductions. It is sufficiently evident, as has often been pointed 

 out, that the great breadth of some of the flat-fish render it impos- 

 sible to deal with the whole question by restrictions of mesh alone. 



The last matter with which I have to deal is the destruction of 

 verv small fish by shove-net and shrimp '' seines." If it were only 

 possible to induce the men to cull out the small fish in the water 

 they would do no harm at all, and practically I snppose that, as 

 matters are, they do not greatly injure any species of known value 

 except the plaice, although the small number of sole, turbot, and 

 brill destroyed may represent, from the relative scarcity of these 

 species, a more considerable injury than one would suppose. When 

 fishing by day the shove-net men usually return the fish to the sea, 

 but by night this is impossible, and the seine men do not seem to 

 make any effort in that direction either by day or night. 



It is a difficult question to deal with, since the shrimp appears to 



be almost a necessity to some people; at the same time the small 



plaice which are destroyed must represent an infinitely greater value 



than the shrimps. If hatcheries were established, and young turbot, 



* Except fish with air-bladders, caught at considerable depths. 



