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the year 1908 in round numbers at a total weight of 48 million kg. and 200 million 

 plaice. 



The English Landings of plaice. 



Our conclusions as to the composition of these landings are founded on methodical 

 calculations based upon the measurements of about 4,925,000 plaice, a weight of about 

 1,220,000 kg. carried out during a period of three years, from October 1905 to 

 October 1908, at the most important English fishing ports, i. e., Grimsby, Lowestoft 

 and Boston. It is reasonable to suppose that the composition of the landings at these 

 three ports is, with some slight modification, representative of the total of the English 

 landings during the period named. The weight of these total landings for the period 

 1905 — 1908 amounted to about 87,850,000 kg. Of this weight the percentage measured 

 was thus 1.3. 



The methods by which these extensive market measurements are carried out and 

 subsequently dealt with cannot be here discussed, but will be exhaustively treated in 

 the General Report itself The discussion of the English market measurements and 

 their results forms the most important part of the General Report, and furnishes the 

 principal basis for our conclusions as to the composition of the landings of plaice from 

 the North Sea, which sufficiently indicates the importance and effectiveness of various 

 international size-limits The English market measurements take as their starting point 

 the landings already divided according to the usual market-classes, and the measured 

 samples are thus samples of such market-classes. These samples can, by proper 

 selection, be made representative of the composition of the market classes from which 

 they are taken, and by the methodical addition of different samples, series of measure- 

 ments can be obtained which are representative of the whole of the unsorted landings 

 for the individual ports, months, areas, and for the whole of the North Sea. Results 

 have shown, that we have by this means arrived at a good and serviceable knowledge 

 of the composition of the English landings of plaice. 



A complete and accurate picture of the composition of the landings is only to be 

 obtained from the figures arranged in tabular form from cm. to cm., and the graphical 

 representations (curves) based thereon. A number of such tables are reproduced in the 

 General Report; it will here suffice to give some of the most important of the principal 

 values of these series of figures, especially that of greatest density and the median, 

 total number and total weight, average weight of the plaice, and a series of so-called 

 summation-values, taken from the summation or integral curve, which show what per- 

 centage in number and weight of the whole fall above or below a given length. A com- 

 bination of these values will as a rule suffice to characterize the landings. 



With regard to the English plaice fishery, the following explanatory remarks may 

 be of service. The English plaice fishery extends over almost the whole of the North 

 Sea, the greatest yield however being drawn from Areas Bs, Ca and B4. 80% 

 of the total weight of plaice landed is brought in by steamer, and only 20 "/o by 

 sailing vessels. These sailing vessels, most of which are from Lowestoft, and fish in 

 Areas C3 and B.<s, are chiefly beam-trawlers, but have however, no receptacle for 

 storing plaice alive, and bring no live fish to market. Plaice fishery is the chief part 



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