as 



wanderings chiefly by the search for food. As a general 

 rule the Sole, for example, is feeding in winter in the deeper 

 waters of the offshore grounds, while in spring the smaller 

 ones at least come in again to the shallower water off the 

 banks. At the spawning season, in the case of the Sole 

 from May to July, the large fish go away from land and 

 congregate on the spawning grounds which in this district 

 (as was pointed out in last year's report) are tracts of 

 deeper water, 20 to 25 fathoms, lying off the east of the 

 Isle of Man, or in the central part of the Irish Sea. There 

 the ova are extruded and fertilized, and then rise as young 

 embryos to near the surface of the sea. They are now 

 at the mercy of the winds and waves, they are carried in 

 various directions (see section on surface currents, p. 51), 

 and are exposed to the attacks of innumerable enemies, 

 including most of the animals which live around them in 

 the sea and even their fellow fish. Those that survive are 

 gradually carried by tidal currents into the shallower 

 waters round the coast, and here the young fish, which 

 have now passed through their embryonic and larval 

 stages, leave off their pelagic mode of existence and take 

 to bottom feeding. It is at this stage that they make 

 their appearance (in April, May, and onwards in the 

 summer) in the fish nurseries round our shallow sandy 

 coasts, and there they live and grow, with occasional 

 wanderings determined by season and food, until they 

 reach the adult condition. In the warmest part of summer 

 they are frequently found moving up the estuaries (in 

 August, September and October this year Plaice and 

 Haddock have apparently been present in great abundance 

 off the Ribble estuary), and then with the first cold weather 

 they move out of the estuaries to the banks. 



Consequently it is evident that the supply of the inshore 

 nurseries depends upon the preservation of the offshore 



