112 



most kiiully acted as our an^Piits and roceivod marked 

 tishes and paid rewards. Finally, many gentlemen not 

 connected with our rommittee have friven us much 

 assistance. I refer more })articularly to Mr. 1\. Knox, of 

 Douo-las, Mr. G. Hf)lmes, of the Cumberland District, and 

 3lr. liust, of the Milford Haven Fishermen's Association. 

 ]ioth the Irish Department of Aj^-riculture and Technical 

 Instructif)n and the Fishery Board for Scotland have 

 insti'ucted their ofhceis to o-ive us every assistance. It is 

 needless to say that without this cordial co-operation the 

 ex]>erinients would noi have been ])ossible. 



The total number of plaice returned is. therefore, 

 195, or 2'\\ per cent, of the whole. But of the 855 fishes 

 dealt with 142 were liberated in Luce Bay w^hile trawlinpf 

 there for spawnino- plaice, and as' there is very little 

 fishing- (and no trawlinp^) in Ihis area, it was not expected 

 that many of these fish would be recaujjht. Ag-ain, 290 

 fish were liberated since the end of March, and many more 

 of these will doubtless be recaptured. If we consider only 

 the fish M'liich have been liberated in the Lancashire and 

 Western District area before the end of Miircli, 1905, the 

 results are very encoura^inji^. Of -1-52 such fishes 148, or 

 • )4!y per cent., have been returned. 



It is quite certain that a number of fish have been 

 recaptured and have not been leported. I have heard^of 

 several such cases. (3ne was only discovered after beinj? 

 (exposed in Doug-las Fish Market, and several were sejit 

 from other markets or hshmongers' shf)ps. In some cases 

 the ajiproximate localities wliere these fish were caught 

 could be traced, but this was impossible in others. In one 

 cas(> a tish-labcl was sent to mc wliicli had certainly been 

 fried. In this case the mark could not have been noticed 

 until the fish had been cooked a fact whicdi does not say 

 much for the caie willi wliich Ihe c-ook cleaned the fish. 



