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be made illegal to sell small crabs and lobsters in London and 

 Edinburgh, or to sell them in June, July, and August, it must be 

 illegal to sell them from whatever source they may be obtained. 

 There is, we, believe no difficulty whatever in enacting that no 

 crab under five inches in greatest length, and no lobster under either 

 eight inches in length, or four inches in the barrel, shall be sold. 

 That law will suit the whole of Scotland, and we understand that it 

 will also suit, with exceptions which have been discussed by two of 

 us elsewhere, the whole of England. But there is much more 

 difficulty in enforcing a close season in the markets. There is no 

 doubt whatever that a close season for lobsters from 1st June to 

 1st September would be quite suitable to Scotland. But the 

 great supply of lobsters for the markets arrives not only from 

 Scotland, but from Norway, France, Ireland, and the south-west 

 of England. The close season which would suit Scotland would 

 certainly not suit England, Norway, and France, and therefore, 

 if a close season be enforced at all, it must be enforced on the 

 coasts and not in the markets. The difficulty with crabs is even 

 greater. It is by no means certain that the same close season for 

 crabs is desirable throughout Scotland, or that any close season 

 at all is necessary on the north-west coasts. In lieu, therefore, 

 of suggesting any general close season for either crabs or lobsters 

 we think it better that the Secretary of State should have power 

 to prescribe, after inquiry by some competent person, local close 

 seasons adapted to the requirements of each district. Such a 

 course will, we believe, prove more beneficial to the fisheries 

 than the enactment of a uniform close season for the entire country. 



There is another matter which we believe requires attention. Soft or light 

 The fishermen who fish in the autumn months are in the habit of crabs, 

 destroying large numbers of "soft" or "light" crabs. These 

 crabs, which have only recently cast their shells, are worthless as 

 food. We propose that it should be illegal to expose these crabs 

 for sale. We should have been very glad to have been able to 

 recommend that they should not be taken, and we exceedingly 

 regret that we cannot do so, for two reasons. First, because, 

 as we have already stated, there is no available machinery for 

 enforcing a law of this nature on the coast, and we are unable 

 to see how any efficient machinery for the purpose can be pro- 

 vided except at very great cost ; and, Second, because these crabs 

 are used as bait. The only other practicable remedy we believe 

 to consist in the institution of local close seasons applicable 

 to those places where, and times when, soft or light crabs are 

 wantonly destroyed. 



It is alleged that, where mussels are scarce and dear, crabs 

 form the best bait for cod, haddocks, and other fish captured 

 by means of the long lines ; and that it would, therefore, be a 

 great hardship to enact any statutory provision preventing the 

 use of the small and soft crabs which it is at present the custom 

 to break up and use for bait. A glance at the evidence will 

 show the nature of this objection as well as the extent to which 



