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perpetrated under this head never were prominent until 
the statutory mesh of the trawl-net ceased to be noticed by 
the Government. 
The principal fish taken by the trawl-net are :—Turbot, 
sole, brill, dory, mary, cod, plaice, haddock, red and 
grey gurnard; also the sapharine or tubfish, whiting, 
weaver, sand dab, skate, ray, red mullet, hake, ling, coal- 
fish, cat-fish, conger eel, halibut, sturgeon, and often large 
quantities of oysters, with a few crabs, and by chance a 
lobster—plainly showing there is very little escape wherever 
the trawl-net, as now in use, passes over, more particularly 
by the nets used by vessels south of Great Grimsby to the 
Land’s End; and we find the same abuses in the size of 
the mesh on the west coast of England. 
Before closing his remarks upon this important subject, 
he would give the size of the cod end as used in the trawl- 
net at several of the principal fishing ports; but, before 
referring further to them at present, he would first of all 
address himself to the fundamental and all-important 
question with which he started: Have the trawl fisheries of 
England deteriorated ? In answer to this pertinent ques- 
tion, most emphatically he would say, yes, they have, and 
will still continue deteriorating, unless such legislative 
action is taken similar to that which had such salutary 
effect on the fisheries in the reigns of Edward III, 
Henry VILI., James I., Charles I., Charles II., James II., and 
other monarchs since that time, as well as during the Com- 
monwealth, and compel the fishermen of to-day, as then, to 
adopt certain well-defined remedies. 
The next point of the subject with which he would deal 
was the seine-net fisheries. The seine-net now in use around 
the British coast was one of the most destructive nets pos- 
sible. The net was frequently taken from off shore by a 
