COUNCIL - MARCH 1920 - APPENDIX 



Appendix IX. 



Brief summary regarding the Plaice question. 



(By J. M. Bottemanne). 



A report on the plaice, which report was prepared just before outbreak 

 of the war, in July 1914, on behalf of the proposals of the Plaice Commission, was 

 submitted to the Council by Mr. J. M. Bottemanne, Chief Inspector of Fisheries 

 in the Netherlands, and delegated by the Dutch government to the meeting. In 

 this report it was extensively pointed out that by fixing a size limit for plaice as 

 proposed by the Plaice Commission the object in view would not be attained, but 

 that the closing of certain areas of the North Sea would not be attained, but that 

 the closing of certain areas of the North Sea would be necessary for it. The 

 following is a brief summary of the results arrived at in the report. 



I. In the first chapter the conclusions of the Plaice Commission regarding 

 protection of plaice in the North Sea and the Skagerrak are mentioned, and stati- 

 stical tables are given of landings of plaice in the various North Sea countries 

 from 1907 to 1912; they show that since the publication of Dr. Heincke's Avell 

 known report on the plaice question (which report covers the period up to 1908), 

 the catch, though as a whole not really decreasing, continues to exhibit signs of 

 a gradual impoverishment of the fishing-grounds by the increase of the smallest 

 kinds of plaice landed in Holland and England and by a decline in the total weight 

 of plaice per day's absence. These tables induce the author to become fully con- 

 vinced of the urgent character of protective measures. 



II. In the second chapter the proposals of the Plaice Commission are dis- 

 cussed. It is shown that the proposed uniform size limits of 20 — 22 cm are really 

 useless, that the minute loss for steam-trawlers (1,2 70 of the total return with a 

 size limit of 22 cm) will not prevent them from visiting the young plaice grounds, 

 so that they will continue fishing on these very grounds and simply "will throw 

 overboard the undersized plaice, which practically will altogether die. The case 

 is different for sailing craft, but such vessels being mostly confined to the vicinity 

 of the shore, it is evident that they will scarcely have any profit of the proposed 

 size limit, as the larger plaice, by moving into deeper and farther off waters, will 

 gradually get out of their reach. So sailing vessels will not only be deprived of 

 an eventual profit of the proposed size limit, but will also endure a not inconsider- 

 able loss (about 5 "/o of their return) quite from the beginning of the experiment. 



III. The third chapter is devoted to the discussion of other measures as 

 are proposed by the Plaice Commission. Much stress is laid upon the question of 

 closed grounds where trawling should be altogether prohibited. The author 

 remarks that Heincke himself, at several times, considers a reasonable size limit 



