COUNCIL — JULY 1905 — APPEND. E 99 
general results mentioned above may be briefly indicated. For ths purpose the , 
other fisheries investigations which are being carried out under the international 
Program must also be taken into consideration. 
It may be said, that the nets-experiments occupy a special field of their own, 
intermediate between the investigations on the distribution of the eggs, larve and 
earliest stages of the fishes and the investigations on the distribution of the adults. 
There has hitherto, indeed, been a gap in the scheme of the international 
investigations between such investigations as have been carried out at Heligoland 
(see Appendix E of the General Report) and the statistical investigations of Prof. 
Henxine (Appendix F). From what has been shown above it is quite evident, that 
the true proportions of the different species on any ground can never be ascer- 
tained with certainty, unless special nets-experiments are undertaken. The task of 
ascertaining the actual quantities of all sizes of a given species on any offshore 
ground, as has been done by Dr. Prrersen for the plaice of the Limfjord, is prob- 
ably quite beyond our powers, but endeavours at least should be made to find 
the nearest approximation thereto. Viewed in this light, the ordinary trawling 
experiments carried out by the investigation-steamers, cannot be expected to yield 
reliable or complete information regarding the relative proportions of the different 
sizes of a given species or the relative proportions of different species on a fishing- 
ground, until the probable proportions which have escaped the net in one way or 
another have been ascertained by definite nets-experiments. 
The plaice (P. platessa) is one of the few species concerning which the 
ordinary trawling experiments can be relied upon to yield approximately complete 
information. As shown above, almost all the large plaice, over 23 to 25 cm. 
(9 to 10 ins.), which enter the trawl are retained. by it. Under certain conditions 
a number of plaice may escape capture by the net passing over them whilst 
buried in the sand, but this difficulty may be overcome to a certain extent and 
the practical fishermen with their great experience of fishing adapt their apparatus, 
as is well-known, to the varying conditions. The information given by fishing-boats 
with regard to the plaice would therefore be the nearest approximation we possess 
to a complete account of the distribution of the older specimens of this or any 
species. As regards the younger specimens of the plaice (under 23 to 25 cm.) the 
returns of the fishing-boats have the same defect as the experiments reported on 
by Mr. Garstane in Appendix H of the General Report, namely, that a proportion 
of the fish under these sizes escape through the meshes of the trawl-net. To 
make good this defect, special nets-experiments are necessary, and as the inter- 
national investigations-steamers are not able to investigate the whole North Sea 
