23 



Polruan, Wednesday, 20th September 1876. 



Present : 

 Frank Buckland, Esquire. 



Joseph Climo. Has fished for crabs and lobsters for 20 years. Fish are 

 very scarce now ; this year's take has been very bad. There has been a falling 

 off for the last 10 years. During that time the number of boats has increased. Boats. 

 Some boats fish for 10 months out of the 12. There are no more fish caught, 

 though more men fishing. Little time is left to the fish to grow or breed. 

 Has purchased and sent to market thousands that ought not to have been 

 caught. Some fishermen have returned the small male crabs to the sea. 

 Trawling is very injurious, especially inshore. Thousands of she crabs are Trawling. 

 taken by trawlers. Has seen very large females, weighing b\ lbs., brought CRABS, 



into Plymouth Barbican. Crabs spawn in January and February. Once he spawning. 

 had been fishing in October, and had left some crabs in a store pot till after 

 Christmas. In January every one was full of spawn. There were nine or ten 

 crabs. Has never seen more than 10 crabs with spawn in the summer months. 

 Crabs are very particular as to diet. They will not eat stale fish. The best Food. 

 bait are cod, gurnards, ray, wrasse, plaice, and soles. The head of fish is 

 generally put in the pots ; the eye of a dead fish attracts the crabs. Eight Bait. 

 pots go to a " string." These pots are fished in from 7 to 25 fathoms water. 



In winter crabs bury themselves in the sand. In March and April many Bury themselves 

 are caught with sand on their shells. As the summer advances they begin to 

 crawl, and will nip one's fingers. In the winter they seem dead. Crabs have 

 been marked and found in a week or more two miles east of the harbour after 

 being ie nicked." When they are not nicked they can pinch with their claws. 

 When they have been nicked they cannot pinch. There should be no distinction 

 in the measure for males and females. She crabs do not grow so long in the 

 shell as the males. Males under 5 inches and females under 4| inches should Gauge. 

 be returned to the water. There are 20 females to one male. Females do not 

 grow so large as the males. The close season should commence on 1st October Close time. 

 and leave off on 1st March. Hundreds of boats go out on the 1st January 

 and kill many spawning fish. The fishermen do not break up small crabs for 

 bait, they can get 2d. each for small crabs. It is a rare thing for them to 

 break up the small ones for bait. He gives 2d. apiece for them ; if they are very 

 small three count as two. Watery crabs are broken up, when they are getting 

 hard after casting their shell. Lobsters may be seen in spawn every month in LOBSTERS. 

 the year, at least from March or April to the present time. Cannot determine Spawning. 

 the exact time for the spawning of lobsters. Lobsters will eat any kind of 

 bait, dried skate, stock fish, &c. They will take stinking bait. Crabs are quite lt ' 

 the reverse. To catch them spider crabs or " corwichs " are used. If he 

 gets a lobster with the berries ripe he takes them from the tail and throws them 

 overboard. Berried hens are not selected ; they go together whether spawned Serried - 

 or not. Thinks if the fishermen were compelled to return berried hens to the 

 water they would take out all the spawn in such a manner that the operation 

 would never be detected. This would be a very easy thing to do. Such a law 

 would deprive the public of the lobsters, and the eggs would be lost. Some 

 years ago the lobster smacks came for lobsters and one of them had four or 

 five dozen in a cabbage net, and there were thousands of little lobsters an 

 inch long in the well of the vessel. The mothers had not been there more 

 than a week. The little lobsters might have come from a previous cargo. 

 They were from half an inch to three quarters of an inch long. The fishermen 

 say there are 40,320 eggs in a lobster. No lobsters should be taken under Eggs of. 

 7 inches long ; they are seldom caught under 9 inches. He throws overboard Gauge. 

 any he may catch below that size. 



Is. per lb. is the right price for lobsters. The fishery begins to the west of 

 Udder Rock ; it does not extend east of that point. The western limit is one 

 mile west of Gribbin Head. The total area is seven or eight miles in length, 

 and three miles out to sea. The Gorran boats fish outside the Fowey 

 ground. They have larger boats. Crabs and lobsters come towards the shore 

 in warm weather, and bury themselves in the winter. There is sand off Fowey, 



