COUNCIL-MAKCH1920~APPENDIX — 84 — 



fisheries with which we are here concerned bring a great part of their plaice to market 

 alive, and in order to avoid, as far as possible, the difficulties which must arise, 

 with locally varying size-limits, in connection with the enforcement of same, and the 

 really effective protection of the young plaice, it would be advisable to allow such 

 lower size-limit only for such plaice as are brought to market alive. Such a size- 

 limit for live plaice would perhaps be sufficiently high when fixed at 22 or 23 cm." 

 Since the forthcoming of the above cited parts of the "General Report" of 

 Professor Heincke, in 1913, a series of pubhcations dealing with the Plaice and 

 Plaice-fisheries in the North Sea has appeared. Three of these papers will be briefly 

 mentioned here, as they concern the aforesaid main results of Professor Heincke. 

 These papers are the following: 



1. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson : "Observations on the Plaice from the "Gold- 

 seeker" Experiments, and from the Statistics of the Aberdeen Market". 



Fishery Board for Scotland. Fifth Report (Northern Area) on Fisher^ 

 and Hydrographical Investigations in the North Sea and adjacent Waters. 

 1908—1911. 1913. 



2 T. Wemyss Fulton: "On the distribution and seasonal abundance of Flat- 

 fishes (Pleuronectidse) in the North Sea and the fluctuations in their abundance 

 during the years 1901—1910". — ibid. 



3. A. T. Masterman: "Report on the Plaice Fisheries of the North Sea" (Parts 



I. and II.). Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Fishery Investigations. Series 



II. ßea Fisheries. Vol. II. No. 1. 1915. 



The results arrived at by Professor D'Arcy Thompson confirm the aforesaid 

 results of Professor Heincke. D'Arcy Thompson sums up some of these conclusions 

 in the following way (1. c. p. 66, Point 19 and 20). 



"The Aberdeen Statistics show, since 1903, with a few unimportant exceptions, 

 a great and steady decrease fronl year to year in the catch of Large and Medium 

 Plaice on all the principal fishing grounds. On the other hand, the landings of Small 

 and Extra Small Plaice have increased greatly. The total catch of Plaice has 

 greatly diminished". 



"In spite of the general expansion of the trawling fishery the total landings 

 of Plaice at Aberdeen were less than two thirds as large in 1911 as in 1905. The 

 catch of Large Plaice had fallen to nearly a fifth of its amount in 1905, that of 

 Medium Plaice to two-thirds, while the landings of Small (including Extra Small) 

 Plaice had trebled in amount". 



Also the results arrived at by Dr. Fulton agree with the above cited main con- 

 clusions of Prof. Heincke. Fulton writes as follows (1. c. p. 93): . . . "while the large 

 plaice and the medium plaice in almost all the squares referred to') have decreased 



') The squares are situated in the northern part of the North Sea. 



