136 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



little more than that the greater number spawn 

 in relatively deep water, and at some distance 

 from land. The brilliant discovery by the Danish 

 investigators of immense numbers of the fry of 

 the common eel in the deep water of the Atlantic, 

 a very long way south and west of Ireland, and 

 the absence of the eggs and fry from the North 

 Sea and Baltic, render it practically certain that 

 the countless hordes of eels which leave the 

 rivers of North-western Europe in autumn, migrate 

 to the ocean for spawning purposes, and that 

 the delicate young elvers, which enter the same 

 streams in spring, have already overcome the 

 perils of the long return migration. 



Before considering the evidence for the existence 

 of a progressive impoverishment of the fishery 

 grounds, it is worth recording that the Trawling 

 Commission of 1885 held that the increase of 

 trawling had considerably affected the inshore 

 waters, has led to a scarcity of fish in these waters, 

 and that to get good catches it was necessary 

 to go further to sea. Eight years later again 

 the Select Committee of 1893 held that " a con- 

 siderable diminution (had) occurred among the 

 more valuable classes of flat fish, especially among 

 soles and plaice/ 1 Seven years later the Select 



