DESTRUCTION OF IMMATURE FISH 279 



otherwise disposed of. In 1897, J 43> anc ^ * n 

 1898, 92 tons were dealt with in a similar manner. 

 When it did sell, very small prices were obtained 

 for this class of fish. In June 1896, an average 

 price of is. for ten " trunks " of plaice was 

 obtained, as compared with a price of 2 8s. per 

 trunk for good-sized fish of the same kind. Such 

 boxes of small fish generally contained a few 

 larger specimens, and it was apparently for the 

 sake of these that the fish were captured and sold, 

 the rest of the contents acting only as a kind of 

 " make-weight." These figures represent only a 

 small proportion of the small fish actually landed 

 in England, to say nothing of those landed at 

 Continental ports. 1 



Even in ordinary trawling, with the object of 

 obtaining fair-sized fish, large numbers of im- 

 mature fish are landed. Thus Holt gives an 

 estimate of the numbers of mature and immature 

 plaice landed at Grimsby alone in the year April 

 i893-March 1894. His figures are : 2 



Mature plaice . .- 7,084,560 

 Immature plaice . ., * 9,166,240 



or, classifying the fish in another way 



Plaice over 13 inches long . 9,721,720 

 under ^ 6,529,080 



Shrimping, however, far more than ordinary fish 



1 See Evidence, Select Committee of the House of Commons on 

 the Sea-Fisheries Bill of 1900, Questions 361-381. 



2 Journ. Mar. BioL Association, vol. iv. No. 4, 1897, p. 414. 



