VI PRACTICAL METHODS OF INCREASING THE SUPPLY 1 39 



higher. But, on the other hand, how much good would it 

 effect ? The present writer has seen a trawler's crew on the 

 eastern grounds shovel overboard all the plaice under 10 inches, 

 simply because the price for such fish was too low to pay for 

 taking them to market, and at the same time this vessel made a 

 very good voyage out of the large soles, turbot, brill, and larger 

 plaice on the same ground. The limit would not entirely put a 

 stop to fishing on the eastern grounds, but would probably have 

 the effect of saving a great many plaice under the limit. Vessels 

 would not continue to fish in places where few other fish were to 

 be got. The possibility of making up a voyage by filling up the 

 fish hold with small plaice when the price was good would be 

 gone, and for this reason fewer of the small plaice would be 

 caught. 



What then is to be said of the limits recommended by the 

 Parliamentary Committee of 1893, namely, 8 inches for plaice 

 and soles, 10 inches for turbot and brill ? These limits were 

 embodied in a bill introduced into Parliament in 1895 but not 

 passed, and the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association 

 petitioned for its reintroduction in 1896. As far as deep sea 

 trawling is concerned, such limits would make no appreciable 

 difference at all. It is true that a few plaice under 8 inches, and 

 occasionally a turbot or brill under 10 inches, are taken on the 

 eastern grounds, but the deduction of these from the total catch 

 would make no change in the habits of the trawlers, and confer 

 no protection on the fish. These limits would, however, make 

 some difference to the small inshore trawlers in places where 

 such trawling is still allowed. A certain number of soles under 

 8 inches are landed by small boats at Lowestoft, and of plaice 

 under that size in the Humber, and the proposed limits would 

 protect these. The landing of turbot and brill under 10 inches 

 for sale seems to be a rare occurrence. 



As the circumstances of the trawling industry and the habits 

 of the fish do not appear to admit of the preservation of all 

 plaice, soles, turbot, and brill, not to consider other species at 

 present, until they have spawned once, we have to face the 

 possibility of a continued diminution in the supply of these fish, 

 in spite of all protection of the young, as a consequence of the 

 excessive capture of the mature individuals. The trawling may 

 be so extended and so effective that not enough spawners are 



