54 RECOMMENDATIONS OF COMMISSION. 



side so closely mimics the sand or mud which they frequent 

 that they are independent of growths, such as zoophytes or sea- 

 weeds \ The very young round fishes again keep to the open 

 water until they are of some size, and do not seem to seek either 

 food or shelter at the bottom, and thus do not come in the way 

 of the trawl. As they get older, many, such as the cod, coal- 

 fish, and pollack, approach the rocky margins, swimming actively 

 amidst the forests of tangles and other sea-weeds, and feed on 

 the abundant animal life in that region. There they are also 

 freed, for the most part, from interference by man. 



The Recommendations of the Royal Commission on 

 Trawling (1883 — 85) and the Method adopted by 

 THE Fishery Board for Scotland in carrying them 

 OUT. Closure of areas. 



It is now necessary to glance at some of the efforts of man 

 to interfere with the marine food-fishes. As many are aware 

 certain areas of the east coast have been closed for fully 12 

 years, and the whole of the three-mile limit for a shorter period. 

 The former areas were selected in 1884 and 1885 — very much 

 at the author's suggestion — by the Royal Commission on 

 Trawling and its lamented chairman, the late Lord Dalhousie, 

 one of the most deservedly popular administrators Scotland has 

 ever had. No one has watched with keener interest, therefore, 

 the result of this experiment than the author, who felt a 

 certain amount of responsibility, at least to science, on these 

 important investigations I After operations of more than 



1 These young flat fishes swarm all round our shores in April and May, on 

 sandy and muddy flats, shallow rock-pools, estuaries, such as the Eden, and in 

 the Swilcan burn as it debouches on the sands at St Andrews. They also, 

 however, occur in the deeper waters. 



2 Those who read the Fishery Boards reports of to-day would imagine that 

 the whole Trawling experiments and their adjuncts were the creations of the 



