COUNCIL — JULY 1905 — APPEND. D 80 
cutters and is necessarily of a provisional nature only; the object being merely to 
illustrate the various points to be noted in the collection of market-statistics and 
to show the use to which the statistical material may be put. 
Tables I a & b illustrate the first kind of statistics, viz. the actual measure- 
ments made on the markets. It compares two fishing-grounds and shows their 
condition as regards the plaice (P. platessa) in different months; for example, some 
notion of the wealth of fish on the grounds is given in Column 4, and the compo- 
sition of the catches is shown in Column 7 and 8 of Table Ja. ; 
Table Ib shows how the statistics of one country may supplement those of 
another. As is well known, the Danish law prohibits the sale of plaice under 
25°6 em, consequently, the abundance of plaice on the fishing-grounds under 26 em 
cannot be ascertained from the ordinary catches of the Danish boats. In Sweden, 
however, there is no such prohibition and practically all plaice are landed which 
the “snurrevaad” can catch. From the size of mesh used and from nets-experiments 
already carried out, we can conclude that all plaice of 24 cm and upwards are 
retained by this net. We thus supplement the information given in Table la, by 
ascertaining from the Swedish measurements the percentage of plaice from 24 to 
26 em in size taken on the same grounds (0—10 fathoms). 
It is evident, further, that if we wished to ascertain the proportion of the 
small plaice under 24cm on the same grounds, we must obtain records of special 
nets-experiments, carried out either by the fishermen themselves or by the invest- 
igation-steamers. 
Table II deals with the second kind of statistics collected on fish-markets, 
viz. the catches of a representative number of boats. The fishing-grounds are the 
same as those represented in Tab. I. Although only one factor is mentioned here, 
namely, the average weight or size of the plaice in different months and years on 
grounds of different depths, it is obvious, that others might also be introduced if 
‘material were to hand, for example, the average catch per day or per hour etc: 
so as to show the comparative richness of different grounds as regards the various 
species or different sorts of a given species at different seasons and in different years. 
Table III shows the use to which the third kind of statistics, viz. the ordinary 
market-statistics, might be put in order to furnish information regarding the distri- 
bution of fishes. It is based on the published statistics regarding the plaice-fishery 
