GREA T BRITAIN. 225 



been during the past year some thousands of boxes of soles 

 in this market from Yarmouth, Lowestoft, and Ramsgate, 

 while not more than one-fourth of the contents of each box 

 consisted of fish that ought to have been caught three- 

 fourths of each box containing nothing but slips and 

 tongues." 



At Weston-super-Mare in 1879 some new trawling ground 

 was tried, and the large size and quantity of these fishes 

 that were taken amply recompensed the trawlers. But such 

 localities are often over-fished, and soon become exhausted, 

 and thus quantity has to be made up by those of a smaller 

 size. This is possibly what is found to occur in most places. 

 Thus, Mr. Dunn observes that his father was the first fisher- 

 man who employed a beam-trawl in Mevagissey Bay ; he 

 captured enormous numbers of fish, so much so that he kept 

 a record, which has, unfortunately, been lost. When the Ply- 

 mouth trawlers first commenced their operations in new 

 localities off the south-west coast (which was about the time 

 the Californian gold-fields were discovered), they termed 

 their new grounds " California," as illustrating the amount 

 and value of their captures. 



It has been pointed out by Mr. Epton and others, that a 

 large fleet of smacks towing over the same ground will in a 

 short time clear off the fish which are there. But the main 

 cause of the diminution in the North Sea is generally 

 asserted to be due to the numbers of undersized fish which 

 are wantonly destroyed in shallow water, or their natural 

 brood-grounds, by trawling smacks, steam trawlers, and 

 shrimp catchers, more especially by smacks along the 

 German coast during the spring and summer months. 



But while it has been proposed to legislate for this state 

 of affairs by prohibiting the exposure for sale of soles under 

 6 inches (7 inches, Buckland) in length a difficulty arises 



VOL. i. E. i. Q 



