MUSSEL BAIT — SUPPLY AND DEMAND 1/ 



inquiries recently conducted as to the numbers of 

 immature flat fish captured off our coasts, figures 

 in cwts. gave no indication as to whether there 

 were a large number of very small, or a much less 

 number of medium-sized or large fish ; so is it in 

 the case of mussels. Figures of cwts. of mussels 

 landed give no estimate of the enormous quantities 

 of small and useless mussels which are taken 

 along with those of serviceable size, and which go 

 to swell the total weight ; nor do we learn if the 

 higher price of the Holland shell-fish bears any 

 relation to a greater size, though this is probably 

 the case. 



From another part of the Fishery Board Report 

 already referred to we find that two-fifths of all 

 the mussels taken in Scotland come from the 

 beds off Greenock and Port-Glasgow, and that the 

 beds in the Firths of Tay and Forth are account- 

 able for nearly all the remainder. The quantity 

 taken in the Clyde in 1893 amounted to 96,000 

 cwts. 



Further, the amount of fish caught by hook 

 and line has fallen, from the total for 1892, by 

 95,200 cwts. and ;^5 3,200, and there has been an 

 enormous increase, in proportion, of net and 

 trawl caught fish. This most serious decrease 



