306 MODERN SEA FISHING 



i4'8 per cent, of the fish were caught in the cod-end, while 

 85 'i passed through into the net outside. Most of the plaice 

 remained in the trawl, only four out of eighty-six escaping into 

 the outer net. 



The fifth experiment was with a cod-end having meshes of 

 three inches from knot to knot ; when the trawl contained 6'2 

 per cent, of fish, and the outer net 93*7 per cent. 



The total results may be summed up as follows : that an 

 increased number of fish passed through the trawl-end as the 

 meshes increased ; the percentage rising from 66 '3 with a one 

 and a half inch mesh to 937 with a three-inch mesh ; but that, 

 as the meshes increased, the proportion of round fish which 

 escaped increased to a greater extent than the proportion of 

 flat fish. This appears to explain the curious fact that where a 

 great deal of trawling has been carried on, more injury has 

 been done to flat fish than to round fish. 



From these experiments we should expect to find the trawlers 

 do greater injury to plaice than to any other variety of fish, and 

 that unquestionably is the case if we leave soles out of con- 

 sideration. For out of 3,348 plaice of various sixes caught in all 

 the experiments, only 74, or a little over 2 per cent., escaped 

 through the meshes of the trawl. The broad results of the ex- 

 periments are that no regulation of mesh practicable for fishing 

 purposes would save from capture anything like an appreciable 

 proportion of the undersized and immature specimens of plaice 

 (probably soles also) which enter the net. But, with regard to 

 many other kinds of fish, the increase in the size of the mesh 

 would appear to be an advantage to the fishing without any 

 disadvantage to the fisherman. I therefore repeat my suggestion 

 that yachtsmen should set the fishermen the example of using 

 cod-ends to their trawls made with at least a three-inch mesh 

 from knot to knot. 



The otter trawl is best let down over the stern of the yacht, 



