Xlll 



lobsters. 



fisheries in an exactly opposite position. A description will be 

 found, for instance, in the evidence which we received at Wembury, 

 relating to a small fishery off the Eddystone Rocks. The fishery is 

 contained in a few acres, and, though the situation is exposed, the 

 area is so small that the fishermen have been able to exhaust it. 

 The same conclusion is true of the fisheries which are situated in 

 confined bays, such, for instance, as that at Falmouth. The 

 fishermen there, exposed to no bad weather, are able to pursue the 

 fishery at every season of the year. High prices have induced 

 them to increase the efficiency of their gear, and the gradual 

 decay of the fishery, which over-fishing has occasioned, has com- 

 pelled them to fish harder and harder to earn a livelihood. The 

 fishermen in these cases are themselves conscious of the loss which 

 they are themselves producing. Bat without the aid of Parliament 

 they are unable to enforce the regulations which in their judgment 

 would restore the fishery. 



As regards the lobster fishery, three suggestions have been Suggestions 

 made to us for its improvement, viz., the institution of a gauge; t h e fishery: — 

 the enactment of a close season ; and the prohibition of the sale of 

 berried lobsters ; but the suggestion which has found most univer- 

 sal favour is the institution of a gauge. In Cornwall and Devon- 

 shire, in Yorkshire and Northumberland, the fishermen have almost Gauge for 

 without exception suggested that no lobster should be sold under a 

 length of about 8 inches. The same recommendation was made 

 to us by the great fish merchants who are established at Hamble, 

 and by the great salesmen in Billingsgate Market. The lobster, 

 it must be stated, is not measured in the same way in all parts of 

 the country. On the north-east coast it is usual to measure it 

 from the tip of the beak to the end of the body or " barrel." At 

 Billingsgate, at Hamble, and on the whole of the coasts of 

 Devonshire and Cornwall, the lobster is measured from the tip 

 of the beak to the end of the tail. On the north-east coast of 

 England it was suggested to us that no lobster should be taken 

 under 4 inches in the barrel. In the rest of England the almost 

 unanimous recommendation was that no lobster should be taken 

 under 8 inches in length. These two recommendations are 

 practically very similar. A lobster 4 inches long in the barrel is 

 usually rather more than 8 inches in length ; but, as it is always 

 undesirable to interfere with local customs, we see no reason 

 why both gauges should not be inserted in any Act of Parlia- 

 ment that may be passed. It would then be illegal to sell any 

 lobster which did not measure either 8 inches in length or 

 4 inches in the barrel. 



If the gauge be adopted, it is in our judgment essential that it 

 should apply to all the fish markets. The only practicable means 

 of enforcing a gauge is to enforce it in the markets, and the 

 gauge must therefore apply to all lobsters sold in those markets., 

 wherever they may be taken. The only practical difficulty in 

 enforcing the gauge arises from the large importation of Nor- 

 wegian lobsters, and we think it would be unwise to attempt 



40353. T. 



