230 
grounds, and even if these were caught while still imma- 
ture fishes frequenting territorial waters there would still 
be a net gain. It is a question worthy of consideration 
therefore whether, in the interests of the Plaice fishery, 
some restrictive measures applied to methods of shrimp 
fishing would not be of benefit to the, whole fishing 
industry. 
We are referring here to the method of fishing for 
shrimps with the shrimp trawl, which is a net of the 
pattern of the larger fish trawl described above but with 
a mesh of 2 inches in periphery. Other forms of shrimp 
nets are used, particularly the “shank” net, which is a 
net like a trawl but having the beam, foot rope and irons 
replaced by a rectangular wooden frame. A further 
improvement consists in attaching the lower edge of the 
net, not to the lower bar which drags on the ground, but 
to another bar, parallel to this but placed two or three 
inches above it. When disturbed the shrimp jumps, and, 
clearing the bar, enters the net, while the fish when dis- 
turbed swims off close to the ground and may escape 
through the space between the two bars. Experiments 
have shewn that these two nets capture relatively less 
fishes and more shrimps than the ordinary shrimp trawl. 
We have yet to refer to the artificial incubation of 
Plaice eggs as a means of recruiting a fishing area in 
process of exhaustion by overfishing. So far this has only 
been extensively practised in Scotland. Mature male and 
female Plaice are captured some time before spawning 
begins and are penned in a‘ spawning pond.” Spawning 
and fertilization take place in the pond as in the sea and 
the fertilized eggs are collected daily and are put into 
the ‘“‘ hatching boxes.” Through these a constant stream 
of sea water passes and they are kept in continual motion 
to avoid the clustering of the eggs and the risk of insufti- 
4 
