23 



millions of ova then are no indication of abundance, but 

 merely a provision against exceptionally adverse circum- 

 stances : it is also, however, man's opportunity. It gives 

 him the chance of stepping in and by artificial hatching 

 saving a large proportion of those that would otherwise 

 be lost. This naturally leads to the subject of the 



Destruction of Immature Fish, &c. 



There can no longer be any doubt that enormous 

 numbers of young edible fish — especially valuable flat-fish 

 — are killed every year by shrimpers. The matter has been 

 a subject of controversy in the past. Prof. M'Intosh* has 

 drawn attention to the matter ; but Dr. T. Wemyss 

 Fulton of the Scottish Fishery Board was the first to 

 attempt to give definite numerical statements as to the 

 species, sizes, numbers, &c, destroyed in the year (see 

 Scot. Fish. Bd. Eep. for 1890, and "Nature" for Nov. 

 19th, 1891.), and the numbers he gave were not very great, 

 e.g., one boat, in Solway, 110,000 plaice per year. But 

 other investigators who have had much practical experience 

 of trawling such as Mr. A. O. Walker and Mr. R. L. 

 Ascroft consider that the numbers given by Dr. Fulton are 

 much too low, or at any rate that destruction goes on in 

 the southern part of our district to a very much greater 

 extent. 



Walker quotes Ascroft (Nature, Dec. 24th, 1891), as 

 saying : — " Shrimping destroys more young fish than al- 

 most any other agency. I have seen in Formby Channel 10 

 cwt. of young flukes destroyed, not one the size of half-a- 

 crown, by one boat, and there were sixty boats there that 

 day;" and he (Walker) goes on to compute that these 

 boats must have been destroying about twice as many 

 young fish per week as Fulton gives for a year. From 



* See especially his valuable article in " Nature " for Aug. 28th, 1890. 



