23 
the price offered at a public sale being only three and 
sixpence, notwithstanding that there had lately been a 
scarcity in the supply. The price given for these ten 
baskets at once showed that the fish were so small as to be 
almost unsaleable. If the destruction of immature fish con- 
tinued, the fishermen in Brixham would starve. His own 
opinion was that there ought to be a close season for fish, 
Captain CURTIS, R.N., said the question for considera- 
tion was whether the recuperative power of the fish was 
equal to the destructive power of the present nets and 
mode of fishing. He had it on very good authority that in 
British Columbia herrings spawned on the branches of 
trees which project into the rivers, and the Indians lived for 
three months in the year upon the spawn. He should like 
to know from practical fishermen whether herrings should 
be allowed a certain time to spawn, during which time it 
should be illegal for them to be caught, and the spawning 
beds protected. Another point which had not been touched 
upon was with respect to the steam trawlers, for it was 
a moot point with many whether these vessels did not 
destroy the spawn upon the ground. Herrings spawn 
on smooth stones and shingle. He was exceedingly sorry 
that the jurors had not been able to award the special 
prize for a trawl-net that did not destroy the immature 
fish, and although he did not like to be personal, he might 
say he had seen one net which he considered a very 
good one. He very much regretted to hear that fisher- 
men used a net of thirteen-sixteenths of an inch mesh, 
and he suggested that there should be a national Fisher- 
men’s Congress, at which laws should be tabulated before 
being submitted to Parliament, so that there might be one 
universal law, as far as possible, for all nations, beyond the 
three-mile limit in the North Sea and Atlantic. Laws for 
