CRAB AND LOBSTER FISHERIES. 



R E P 11 T 



ON THE 



CRAB AND LOBSTER FISHERIES 



OF 



IRELAND. 



Office of Irish Fisheries, 

 Sir, 12, Ely Place, Dublin, 31st January 1877. 



"We have now the honour to submit for the infor- 

 mation of His Grace the Lord Lieutenant our report upon the 

 Crab and Lobster Fisheries of this country, having just con- 

 cluded the inquiries made around the coast in accordance with 

 the instructions of His Grace as conveyed in your letter of the 

 23rd August last. 



Our investigations were confined to the following points, 

 being the same as ruled the gentlemen appointed to conduct 

 similar inquiries in England and Scotland, viz. : — 



1st. " Whether the Crab and Lobster Fisheries are increasing 

 or decreasing." 



2nd. " If they have decreased, the cause of such decrease." 



3rd. The measures which it may be expedient to propose for 

 the purpose of arresting any further decrease. 



Appended will be found a list of the places where we held 

 official inquiries, and the tenor of the evidence received at each, 

 besides which we investigated the question at various other 

 places when travelling from one point to another. 



Generally we found that in most places there had been no 

 diminution in the supply of lobsters. 



In the localities where it was reported that a decrease had 

 taken place in the supply, we found it had arisen from the 

 following causes : — 



1st. Along the north and east coasts, because great facilities 

 exist for ready transit to the English and Scotch markets by 

 steamers plying across Channel, leading to over-nshino-. 



2nd. That in other places, from some of the fishermen having 

 obtained different employment, they had abandoned fishino- 

 altogether. 



3rd. From the fishermen capturing everything in the shape 

 of a lobster that they could take, down even to 3 or 4 inches in 

 length. 



