139 



Fluctuations in the Size of Plaice taken off the Lancashire 

 Coast : 1908-1920— Merse?/ Estuary. 



We now consider the variations from year to year in the 

 sizes of the plaice landed from the Lancashire inshore waters. 

 The data are not so abundant as we might wish and the results 

 are rather inconclusive. But since they may fit in, afterwards, 

 with the results of other investigations it is advisable that they 

 should be recorded. There are measurements of plaice caught 

 on the various grounds and these are summarised in tables. 

 There are, however, no records for the war years 1914-1918 

 for most of these grounds : only one series of trawlings was 

 maintained all through the period 1908-1920, and that was 

 those taken on the Mersey nursery ground. The two best 

 months here are, on the whole, September and October, and 

 these are, therefore, combined as the series of length-frequency 

 distributions of Table 16. Here we have measurements of the 

 plaice caught in those months by a beam trawl-net of G-inch 

 mesh used from a sailinff boat. 



