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in the fact that the Scottish plaice fishery is based on the capture of large plaice in 

 the high sea regions of the northern North Sea (G, F, E, D and Bi) the Dutch, on the 

 other hand, almost exclusively on the capture of small and very small plaice in the 

 shore areas (Aa and Bs) of the south eastern North Sea, the stock here being fished 

 with particular intensity by Holland, as both steamers and sailing vessels take all small 

 plaice caught, down to far below i8 cm. These very small plaice can always find a 

 market in Holland, especially when brought to land alive, as is the practice of most of 

 the sailing vessels. 



A similar difference in the loss caused by a size-limit, though not so great as that 

 here shown between Scotland and Holland, appears between the steamer and sailing 

 ship landings of the same country in cases where the sailing vessels are smaller, fish chiefly 

 for plaice, and principally or entirely in the coastal areas. As the sailing vessels in 

 such cases are concerned with a stock composed, on an average, of smaller plaice, the 

 average size of the fish in their catches is naturally smaller than in the case of steamers 

 fishing larger and more distant grounds. Correspondingly, we see that with a size-limit 

 of 25 cm., the loss to German steamers in weight and value would amount to only 

 26 "/o; in the case of the sailing vessels however, to 52 "/o, i. e., twice as much. Si- 

 milar conditions evidently prevail also in Belgium and Holland. 



It has been mentioned above, that on the basis of the investigations carried out in 

 England, a size-limit of about 26 cm. was considered necessary, in order to provide 

 really effective protection for the undersized plaice in the coastal areas concerned, with 

 the present methods of trawl-fishing. It is evident that in the event of such size- limit 

 of 25 or 26 cm. — the same which is already legally decreed in Denmark — being 

 introduced, by international co-operation, as the general limit for the whole of the North 

 Sea, the immediate loss thereby occasioned in several countries would be extraordinarily 

 heavy, in certain cases no doubt so serious as to render it a matter of doubt whether 

 such fishery could continue to exist at all. This last applies particularly to the Ger- 

 man, Dutch and Belgian sailing ship fishery in the areas A3, As, B4 and B3, where 

 plaice form the principal part of the catch. 



In the face of this threatening danger to a number of fisheries attending the in- 

 troduction of a size-limit of 25 to 26 cm. it will be easily understood that the countries 

 here concerned, while recognising the necessity of size-limits, and of higher size- 

 limits than hitherto, cannot advocate the adoption of a universal size-limit uniform for 

 all countries, at any rate unless it be extremely low, and in any case lower than. 

 that at present customary in Denmark. In Holland, such an international size-limit in the 

 interest of the Dutch plaice fishery is desired, in the first instance, to be not higher than 

 20 cm., in Germany not higher than 23 cm. Or for instance, in Belgium and 

 Germany, a higher size-limit might be fixed for steamers, say 25 to 26 cm., and 

 a considerably lower one for sailing vessels, say 22 or 23 cm. These proposals are 

 supported by the indisputable facts, firstly, that plaice fishing is for the steamers, in 

 contrast to the sailing vessels, seldom of the first importance, but plays, as a rule, a 

 subordinate part; secondly, that the sailing vessels fish as a rule less destructively than 

 the steamers, the fish they return to the sea having a greater vitality; and thirdly, that they 

 utilize the small plaice, which are for the most part brought alive to the market, to 



