REVIEW OF TRAWLING REPORT OF 1884. 33 



pass, but the area is wider, and the size of those captured 

 considerably larger. 



No fish formed the subject of greater solicitude in the 

 Trawling Report than the plaice, both from its wide distribu- 

 tion and its great abundance, as well as from the supposed view 

 that this was a form specially destroyed by the trawl, which 

 had cleared out of St Andrews Bay, for example, all the 

 full-grown adults, and left only the smaller forms. It is 

 apparent, therefore, that during the past twelve years such 

 inshore waters have had sufficient time for recuperation — at 

 least to some extent — if these views can be maintained. The 

 results of the trawling- work of the ' Garland ' up to 1892 have 

 already been dealt with in this connection ^ so that other 

 observations, and the statistics of fishes captured by the liners 

 in this area, have only to be considered. Without at present 

 going into detail, it is found that comparatively few full-grown 

 plaice are captured in the enclosed waters of St Andrews Bay. 

 Most of the large specimens that have occurred have been 

 either diseased — e.g., blind or emaciated — or injured. An 

 enormous number of immature or half- grown plaice, however, 

 are reared in the area, and are captured by the liners, chiefly 

 with lob- worm, their lines being buoyed and left in the water 

 for such periods as they please, relays of lines being often used. 

 The success with which the local fishermen ply their trade in 

 early spring amongst the plaice is indicated by the fact that a 

 single haul of the lines of a small fishing-boat in February 1894 

 produced a sum of £9, and that a larger ' catch ' was procured 

 by the same boat within the week. The closure of the inshore 

 waters, therefore, while it places the trawl-fishermen at a 

 disadvantage, benefits the line-fishermen, and does not deprive 

 the public altogether of the supply of flat fishes from the 

 enclosed area. It does not, however, produce many large 

 flat fishes, for as these get older they appear to seek the deeper 

 waters outside the limit, either from a natural habit, or as the 

 result of constant interference by man. This habit, indeed, 

 was noticed in the Report when dealing with the question of 

 instituting the closure within the three-mile limit, thus : — 

 1 "A Brief Sketch of the Scottish Fisheries," 1882—1892, p. 6. 

 M. R, 3 



