APPENDIX K: KYLE 



H 



m. Average catch per fishing day. 



This conception, under various guises, as, catch per hour or lOO hours, average 

 catch per boat etc. has been employed in different countries to illustrate the problem of 

 overfishing and decrease of fish. Although but little reflection is required, to show it is 

 practically worthless to prove either, we may examine its merits here by the light of the 

 material contained in the Danish Reports. 



The data is shown in the following table. Aalborg Bay is a wide expanse of the 

 western Kattegat in the province of Jutland. It is one of the oldest plaice fishing grounds 

 on the Danish coast, and the plaice there are relatively of small size, about 11 Danish 

 lbs to the score. Laese is an island in the northern part of the Kattegat, off Aalborg 

 Bay. The plaice here are of larger size and the fishing takes place in deeper water 

 than in Aalborg Bay. North Sea probably means the Skager Rak and north of Horns Reef 



Table II. Plaice fishery in the Kattegat and North Sea from 1880— 1896 



The evidence contained in this table is cleaily of little value, when we consider the 

 importance of the questions of overfishing and decrease of fish. To throw light upon 

 these, the evidence must first of all be representative, and if we think over the number 

 of things required to make it so, e. g. information regarding other fishing grounds, 

 regarding the total number of boats fishing and so on, it can be realised how little is the 

 assistance such evidence gives. To be truly representative, we should require the total 

 catch and the total number of days fishing, over each and all of the areas into which 

 the Kattegat or North Sea might be divided. As it is improbable that we should ever 

 have such a wealth of detailed information at command, we must be content with the 

 nearest approximations thereto, namely, the total catch and the total number of boats 

 fishing per annum. Similar views have long ago been expressed by Petersen in his 



I 95 b gives the records of two boats not included in 95 a. 



