DESTRUCTION OF IMMATURE FISH 287 



the cause of the admitted decrease of certain kinds 

 of flat fish in the North Sea. At first sight there 

 appear to be three remedies : (i) to prohibit 

 fishing on these " small-fish grounds " ; (2) to 

 regulate the methods which may be practised, by 

 restricting the length of the drags, and by in- 

 creasing the size of the meshes of the trawl-nets 

 used ; and (3) by a prohibition of the landing of 

 fish under certain specified sizes. Now, (i) is 

 impossible without international agreement ; (2) 

 would require an international police on so large 

 a scale as to be quite impracticable, while the 

 efficacy of the regulations suggested is not generally 

 admitted. The third remedy is the only one left 

 to consider. If the sale of small flat fish were 

 made illegal, then trawlers would cease to work on 

 grounds where these are generally found. This 

 was the remedy suggested by the trawling trade, 

 and embodied in the Sea-Fisheries Bill of 1900. 

 I have already alluded to the fate of this measure. 

 It failed most probably because of the general lack 

 of statistical and scientific data, and also because 

 it seems to have been felt that its operation was 

 too wide, and that its application all round the 

 coast would have involved very considerable 

 interference with the methods of inshore fishing, 

 and most probably a good deal of hardship to men 

 fishing in a small way, and possibly depending to 

 a great extent on just those small fishes which it 

 was the object of the Bill to prevent them catching. 



