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may be 120 feet long. The mouth is kept open by being 
attached to “otter boards,’ which are very large and 
heavy wooden boards shod with iron, one edge of each of 
which rests on the ground. They take the place of the 
irons in the beam trawl. ‘They are set at an angle to the 
direction in which the net is dragged, and by being 
pressed outwards when pulled keep the net open. The 
net is hauled by two warps, one of which is attached to 
each otter board and passes in over one of the quarters of 
the vessel. The otter trawl is stated to have an efficiency 
37-50 per cent. over that of the beam trawl. 
These are the two principal methods of fishing in 
5) 
this country. In Denmark the “seine” net takes the 
place of the trawl. The Danish Plaice seine is a bag of 
netting about 20 feet long, the mouth of which is produced 
out into two wings of about 180 feet in length. The depth 
of the mouth and wings is about 7 feet. There are 5 or 
6 meshes to the foot in the netting. The apparatus is 
used from an anchored vessel by being “ shot” in a wide 
curve at some distance from the vessel. It is then hauled 
by two warps, one attached to each wing. The net drags 
on the bottom in the same manner as the trawl. In 
Denmark the fish are landed alive, a custom which is quite 
exceptional in British fishing, the fish being brought to 
the port of landing preserved in ice. 
What the real value of the Plaice fishery in British 
waters may be is difficult to determine accurately. The 
official returns made by the Board of Trade collectors of 
statistics show that for the year 1898, 35,788 tons of Plaice 
having an initial value of £873,680 were landed at British 
ports. Of this total quantity 31,544 tons were landed at 
Kast coast ports, 2,355 tons on the South coast, and 1,882 
tons on the West coast. It will be seen how important 
the East coast Plaice fisheries are, those grounds yielding 
