CRAY-FISH. 

 CRABS. 



Habitat. 



Bait for. 



Migration. 



Breeding. 



Fots. 



Casting their 

 shell. 



Growth. 



Gauge. 



Berried. 



Used for bait. 



LOBSTERS. 

 Price. 



of Cornwall. He cannot speak as to beyond St. Ives, but the fishery is not pro- 

 secuted with so much avidity on the north coast as on the south. Cannot men- 

 tion any cove on the south coast where crabs are not caught more or less. In the 

 Scilly Islands there are many cray-fish and lobsters, but no crabs. There is very 

 little weed for the large crabs. The large crabs live on rocky bottom, the small 

 ones on stony and sandy bottom. The trawlers by night find the bed of the 

 sea covered with small crabs, which feed by night and retire into the sand by 

 day. The depth of water where the large crabs are caught varies from 8 to 

 30 fathoms. He prefers the crabs from the deepest water. The largest crabs 

 are caught farthest out. Thinks that crabs pick up small rocklings. The 

 best bait for crabs are wrasse, shark, gurnet, &c, cut up. The strongest 

 smelling bait and the highest coloured has the preference. Stinking bait is 

 no good. The white hound is preferred by fishermen because of its smell. 



Crabs migrate to and from the shore. In the spring, the deepest boats 

 have the most fish. In the summer the crabs are nearer the land but more 

 scattered. In autumn they return back to the deep water, and are lost sight 

 of from about the middle of September to the following spring. In December 

 he was at Plymouth, and saw humps with well-developed spawn, which had been 

 brought in by trawlers from the sea 18 miles out. Saw three humps himself in 

 April and May with well-developed spawn ; they were nearly ready to hatch their 

 ova. The smallest humps are half an inch, and are to be seen at all times of 

 the year ; they are found in the greatest numbers in the spring, above low water 

 spring tides, close to the land. Thinks the spawn is deposited out at sea and 

 carried in-shore by some arrangement of nature, such as the tides. They breed 

 in the winter, and the young ones appear in the spring. The smallest crabs 

 seen are as small as small can be. The fishermen use ordinary crab pots, the 

 ribs of which are not more than 2 inches apart. These pots will take crabs 

 about 2\ inches across, and would catch a 2-inch crab, but not many as 

 small as that. The fishermen do not catch crabs as small as the Norfolk 

 " toggs ; " if caught they would be thrown back. 



Thinks crabs shoot their shells at least once a year, and as often as they fill 

 up. They must cast their shell more than once in 16 months to grow from 

 4 inches to 8 inches across. 



The average catch of boats is only three crabs a boat per day ; but they also 

 catch lobsters, and a cray-fish or two, and perhaps two dozen humps. One 

 boat could set a hundred pots. This, however, is an extreme case. 



(By Mr. Walpole.) Considers the present want of a law on the subject un- 

 satisfactory, and desires to prohibit the capture of small male and small female 

 crabs, and would prohibit the capture of all crabs under b\ inches. The 

 Norfolk gauge of A\ inches would be too small. This gauge, 5f inches, would 

 be sufficient. There would be no practical difficulty in enforcing a gauge, as 

 all the fishermen carry an 8-inch gauge for selling purposes. Would compel 

 the fishermen to carry a gauge. Never heard any objection to this, and the 

 fishermen would like it. If a gauge were in force locally, it would not pay to 

 carry undersized crabs away to any distance ; but it would be better to pro- 

 hibit the possession and sale of small crabs. Would also compel the return to 

 the sea of crabs carrying berries. Has only seen three crabs carrying berries. 

 This regulation would be of no consequence to in-shore fishermen, and would 

 only be important to the deep-sea fishermen. The latter take crabs 18 miles 

 away from the shore. As the law prohibiting capture would not apply to such a 

 case as this, there must be a law against the possession of small crabs, and if 

 legislation is to be effective it must affect the possession even more than the 

 capture. 



Crabs are not broken up for bait on the coast near Mevagissey, only soft 

 crabs. Thinks if it were made illegal to catch or possess small crabs that a 

 few would be broken up for bait, but not a great many. It is cheaper to buy 

 bait than to catch it. They would be broken up when the bait was scarce. 

 Fishermen, however, would use spider crabs and not edible crabs. Crabs go 

 out to the deep sea from August to February, and make a close time for them- 

 selves. The great point is the capture of small crabs. 

 In 1874 witness agreed to buy lobsters of 11 inch 

 at Is. each, under 11 inches at 6d. each. There was no other restriction as to 

 east of Falmouth. This embraces 1/ or 18 miles of coast. There are crabs 

 in every cove from Mevagissey to the Land's End ; in fact all along the coast 



