ST ANDREWS BAY. SUMMARY. 131 



irrespective of all melancholy forebodings, myriads of young 

 plaice people the shallow waters of the sandy bays all round 

 our shores, and afford the best refutation of his views, and a 

 proof, beyond dispute, of the recuperative powers of nature. 

 For, just as surely as these swarms of young plaice annually 

 appear, just as surely are the ranks of the sizes above them 

 recruited. Does the "practical man" find that the dabs and 

 long-rough dabs have been similarly dealt with by the trawl 

 (which makes no discrimination in regard to species) ? Large 

 plaice and large turbot are certainly conspicuous examples of 

 forms that are affected by constant and effective methods of 

 fishing, but it is long since their extinction was prognosticated, 

 and, so far as facts go, their continuance is as yet in no danger. 

 The opinion expressed in the summary that the dabs and 

 long-rough dabs by their increase in the closed waters had to 

 some extent supplanted the plaice and the lemon-dabs seems to 

 be in want of further proof. The view that it is the trawl which 

 has caused an undue slaughter of the latter (before maturity), 

 while the two former species escape as mature individuals 

 through the meshes, will not explain all the facts for St 

 Andrews Bay. Moreover, the reporter has forgotten that the 

 flounder is in the same position, its numbers having been 

 reduced by about a fourth in the same period (latter half), yet 

 it cannot be said that this species depends on the outer water 

 for its eggs and young \ A better case, as regards diminution 

 during the second period, could be made out for the turbot, 

 since in the first period 34 were captured, and in the latter 

 only 18. Kipe turbot as a rule are offshore fishes, and their 

 destruction, therefore, was as probable as that of the spawning 

 plaice. Yet he would be a bold man who would take up such 

 a position, especially if familiar with St Andrews Bay, in which 

 the young turbot have always occurred. Similar remarks apply 

 to the sole, the first period having double the number of the 

 second. But if the " Garland " had had a ground-rope on her 



1 It has been stated in the Fishery Reports that flounders have increased 

 because they spawn inshore, while lemon-dabs have diminished since they 

 spawn offshore, and their young are not confined to the territorial waters. A 

 careful study of both cases does not substantiate this view for either. 



9—2 



