CRABS. 



Decreased size. 

 Gauge. 



Used for bait. 

 Close time. 



LOBSTERS. 



Decrease. 

 Price. 



Gauge. 

 Boiling. 



Close time. 

 Soft. 



Decrease. 



{By Mr. Walpole.) The proper way to enforce the law is through the buyer 

 and seller at the chief markets. The Orkney lobsters keep up their size. 



John Jamieson {examined by Mr. Buckland). Has been a fishmonger for 

 upwards of 40 years. There are more crabs now a great deal than there were 

 25 years ago, but the size is much smaller. There is double the number of 

 fishermen, consequent on the" increased facilities for market, and they take all 

 sizes. The remedy is to have a gauge. Nothing under 6 inches would do. 

 If the market were stopped the fishermen would obey the gauge. Possibly 

 the small crabs would be broken up for bait where the fishermen could not 

 obtain mussels. The mussels are more used than crabs. Would have a 

 close season in the Frith of Forth in June, July, and August. In these 

 months the fish won't carry any distance because of the heat. 



The lobsters have diminished both in size and quantity. This is attri- 

 butable to over-fishing. They fish for lobsters all through the year. When 

 he first went to North Berwick 25 years ago, crabs were sold at 6d. a dozen, 

 and small crabs counted two for one. The contract price now is Is. 6d. to 2s. 

 a dozen. Lobsters used to be 9d. each and are now Is. 6d. to 2s. Two go for 

 one under 4h inches in head or barrel of lobster. About five years ago 

 refused to take lobsters under 4h, inches. The fishermen rebelled and sent the 

 small lobsters to London, and they (the salesmen) are now compelled to take 

 small as well as large. It would be better to measure lobsters by barrel and not 

 by the Norfolk measure of head and iail. The crabs are skewered before they 

 are boiled alive. It spoils a lobster or crab to put it first into cold water. 

 The meat sticks to the shell. It is impossible to stop the capture of berried 

 hens. The lobster is most valuable when it is berried. There is a prejudice 

 against crabs in warm weather in Edinburgh. 



{By Mr. Young.) June, July, and August should also be closed for lobsters. 

 They are found then with soft shells. Knows of his own knowledge that the 

 lobster fisheries in Loch Erribol and in Tarbert in Harris are nearly fished out. 

 There are not the same quantity of lobsters coming from any place now that 

 used to come formerly. Every year the lobsters from Iona are getting smaller 

 Most of the lobsters come from the West Highlands, from Portree, Mull, and 

 all the islands on the West Coast. 



Queen's Hotel, Montrose, Friday, 6th October 1876. 



Present : 



Frank Buckland, Spencer Walpole, and Archibald Young, 



Esquires. 



CRABS. Joseph Johnson, fish merchant, Montrose {examined by Mr. BucUand). 



Has been acquainted with crab and lobster fisheries from Cape Wrath to 

 Montrose for 50 or 60 years. The crabs have diminished 50 per cent, in 



Decrease. number ; they have not diminished in size. The average size of crabs is 5 



to 6 inches. One third of the crabs are below 4| inches. The falling off 

 has taken place since the railway was opened nearly 30 years ago. Nearly 

 30 years ago witness had crab fishings at Auchmithie, this side of Arbroath ; 

 they took immense quantities; has had from that one place 140 baskets of 

 a morning; each basket would contain 6 dozen. Doesn't suppose now that 

 so many crabs could be taken in a season. Attributes falling off to over- 

 fishing. Believes the crabs to be local, and to stay on their own ground. 

 Thinks this because the Auchmithie crabs are the worst quality on the coast, 



Close time. and the Arbroath crabs, only 4 miles off, are much better. The only remedy 



for the falling off is an annual close time. Cannot say positively what this 

 close season should be. It would be no remedy to kill the large and spare the 

 small crabs because the large crabs are the spawners. Has known small crabs 



Spawnin . f 4 1 inches with roe in them. A gauge might protect the small ones; but 



it wouldn't increase the breed if the larger ones, which contain the most 

 spawn and are most numerous, were killed. Does not, therefore, approve 



Gauge. f a gauge because it would not preserve the large crabs. The principal 



markets for crabs are London, Birmingham, Manchester, especially London. 



