13 



5^ inches, and lobsters under 8-1 inches. This would be better for the fishermen Pilchard fish- 

 in the long run. The drift nets prevent crab fishing in the busy parts of the m(J - 

 season. Thinks this is very hard. Has heard old fishermen say that there 

 was a law to keep pilchard drift nets off the land. One man lost 30 crab pots 

 through the pilchard nets in one day. The fishermen go lour miles further 

 from shore for crabs than they used to. 



William Retallack. Has been crabbing 30 years. There are not a CRABS, 

 quarter so many crabs as there were 30 years ago. He used to get 27 or 28 _ 

 crabs a day, and now only gets three or four. In 1851 he got 26 a day. Four 

 or five crabs a day now is a good catch with the same number of pots out as 

 formerly. Believes the falling off is due to the capture of so many small he 

 and she crabs under 5 inches. All under that size should be thrown back. Gauge. 

 Male crabs are the largest; females do not run so large. Lobsters have not 

 failed so much as the crabs. There are not more boats in Durgan than there 

 used to be, but there are three times as many in Porthalla. There are eight Boais - 

 or nine boats there now, and there used to be only three. The crabs are being 

 fished out. About 30 to 40 pots go to each boat, and there are 300 pots from 

 Durgan. If he had to make a law he would enforce the throwing back of all Berried. 

 small crabs and all crabs in spawn ; would throw away the berried hens at any 

 time of the year. In a month's time they would cast their spawn, and might 

 then be sold. The fishermen ought to consent to this. Thinks they would. 

 They make as much of a " shotten " lobster as a berried one. Does not know 

 the opinion of the fishermen at Porthalla. 



Most lobsters are nicked, not plugged. If they are plugged the people will 

 not buy them. 



Guildhall, Penzance, Monday, 18th September 1876. 



Present : 

 Frank Buckland and Spencer Walpole, Esquires. 



Thomas Cornish, solicitor, Penzance. Has owned crab pots for more 

 than 20 years. The crabbing stations about Mount's Bay are: — 1. Muliion, 

 2. Porthleven. 3. Prussia Cove. 4. Penberth. 5. Porthgwarra. 6. Sen- 

 nen Cove. All these are fisheries for crabs and lobsters. His experience is 

 that the fish have not fallen off in numbers, but the grounds inshore have been 

 fished out, and the men have had to go to deeper water. On the eastern 

 side of Mount's Bay, he thinks, a limit should be placed on the size of a 

 saleable crab, say 5 or 5^ inches. Would be glad to see a total prohibition of 

 she crabs. They are no good ; it is a waste to catch them. Lobsters and cray- 

 fish are seldom caught at Penzance under 9 inches. The crab pots would not Gauge. 

 catch them much smaller than that. There is an enforced close time in 

 Mount's Bay in July and August, when the drift nets for pilchards drive in the 

 crab fishers. Does not think a close season important at the Land's End Pilchard fish- 

 because the fisheries are so deep and so extensive. Would like to see berried mff ' 

 hens all thrown back into the sea. Has had very little experience of crabs 

 in spawn. More females than males are caught. 



(By Mr. Walpole.) It would be a serious loss to prohibit the capture of LOBSTERS. 



berried hens 5 but in the end it would replenish the fishery. This should be 



enforced throughout the year. Not a large proportion of lobsters in the spring 

 are berried ; but berried hens are caught all through the summer. Is aware Berried. 

 of the large demand for berried hens in London. It would be extremely 

 difficult for fishermen to remove the berries. It would be possible to dis- 

 tinguish between a lobster that had shed its berries naturally and one from 

 which the berries had been removed artificially. 



Crabs are fetched away by the trading smacks. The minimum size for CRABS, 

 crabs, under the Norfolk Crab and Lobster Fisheries Act, is 4^ inches. Pro- G — 

 poses 5£ inches as a minimum gauge. Crabs under that size are not accepted 

 by the trading smacks, and then they are taken as "quarter fish," four 

 counting as one. The prohibition of unsizeable fish should be universal. It 



