VI PRACTICAL METHODS OF INCREASING THE SUPPLY 1 3/ 



net must be raised and emptied. In places where shrimping is a 

 considerable industry, as at the mouth of the Thames or Humber, 

 and on the coast of Lancashire, its total prohibition is impossible, 

 and all that can be done is to diminish as far as possible the 

 destruction of small plaice, &c., which it involves. The possibility 

 of taking shrimps by instruments which do not capture flat-fishes 

 has been much considered ; one such instrument is a trap like a 

 lobster-trap, another a trawl with its ground-rope replaced by a 

 bar raised some inches above the bottom. 



A certain number of saleable fish are taken in shrimp-trawls, 

 but we have now to consider nets used expressly for the capture 

 of fish. One method of protecting the smaller fish is to prohibit 

 trawling on the inshore grounds. Recently, in accordance with 

 the powers conferred upon them, many of the District Committees 

 have adopted this method, which must of necessity be very 

 effective for the purpose. The difficulty which arises from it is 

 the distress it causes to the fishermen. On the south coast of 

 Devonshire Brixham trawling vessels of small size have long been 

 used for trawling in the bays, and catching small plaice. A bye- 

 law was passed by the local committee prohibiting trawling 

 within certain limits, thus closing not the whole but a portion of 

 the territorial waters under its jurisdiction. The men engaged 

 in this branch of the industry have objected to the law. It may 

 be supposed that these men ultimately reap the benefit of 

 obtaining more large fish outside the prohibited limits, and 

 probably that is the case. But in the meantime they have to 

 fish in regions more exposed to the weather, and get less fish 

 than they did before. The diminution of their earnings and 

 greater labour and exposure does not however amount to distress, 

 and the bye-law appears to be quite justifiable. 



It is evident that the measures hitherto mentioned do not 

 affect the capture of small flat-fishes on the eastern grounds in 

 the North Sea, or on other similar grounds beyond territorial 

 limits. The agitation against this destruction arose among the 

 people engaged in the trawling industry itself, and resulted in a 

 demand perseveringly and earnestly put forward for the pro- 

 hibition of the sale of undersized fish by Act of Parliament. 

 It is generally admitted by those that have most experience of 

 the circumstances connected with the trawling for small plaice 

 off the continental coast, that the prohibited fish if thrown over- 



