If we compare tliese German total landings for the whole year with the English figures 

 corresponding, we see at once that they have a much lower average weight, and are 

 much richer in small, and poorer in large plaice than the English. Thus for instance, 

 the "undersized" plaice (under 25 cm.) amount to 47 "/o of the number, and 31 "/o 

 of the weight in the German landings; in the English only 32 7o and 14 %. The 

 "small'' plaice (under 29 cm.) make up in Germany 85 "/o of the number and 68 "/o of 

 tlie weight, in England only 6370 and 37%. The large plaice (over 35 cm.) represent, 

 on the other hand, only 3 "/o of the number, and 10 7o of the weight of the German 

 landings, as against 10 "/o and 31 7o in the English. This remarkable difference is very 

 simply explained by the fact, that the German plaice fishery carried on in those areas, 

 viz. Bs, Ci, Bi, D and E, — in which most large plaice appear, is, in contrast to that 

 of England, little or nothing, being for instance, in the areas Bi, D and E so insigni- 

 ficant, that the small number of plaice which are landed from here, and which are not 

 included in the above table, would scarcely affect any alteration at all therein. On the 

 other hand, the great relative importance of the plaice fishing done by German sailing- 

 vessels, and the fact that this falls almost exclusively in the coastal areas A3 and B* 

 lowers the average size of the plaice in the landings considerably. But even if we com- 

 pare only the German steamer landings with the English, a great difference is still to 

 be seen. 



A strong, though naturally not complete resemblance is to be noticed between the 

 total of the German landings from the southern North Sea and the English landings 

 from Area B*, the composition of which is likewise here set forth for comparison. Eng- 

 land lands from this area more than one and a half times the total quantity of the 

 German landings (about 21^/2 as against 13V4 million fish). The percentages in num- 

 bers of the "undersized" and "small" English plaice from B4 (43 "/o and 84 "/o) are 

 almost the same as for the German plaice from the south-eastern North Sea (47 % and 

 85 "/o). Thus the certain number of large plaice taken by the Gei^man fishery from 

 Areas Ca and Bs is compensated by the quantity of the small plaice taken from 

 Area A.^. 



Seen from this standpoint, and especially in order to check the reliability of the 

 methods employed for determining the composition of the landings, it is valuable to 

 compare the English and German steamer landings from the same area B4. This is 

 possible, owing to the fact that extensive German market measurements are also at 

 hand from this area. 



