74 JOURNAL OF MARINE ZOOLOGY AND MICROSCOPY. 



and the quality of their fish, have long since witnessed the loss of their 

 reputation; they are even partially abandoned." And again: "The 

 diminution of fish catches on the banks which line our Channel coast cau 

 no longer be disputed." ..." The decrease of our small Northern fishing 

 ports is more eloquent than any statistics upon this point." So well 

 authenticated and so well recognised by the fishers themselves is this 

 decadence in Jersey, that it requires little or ns demonstration from me. 

 Indeed, in view of the absence of local statistics as to catches, it is 

 impossible of verification in figures. However, I have the authority of 

 our best informed fishermen for stating definitely that a diminution of 

 30 per cent, to 40 per cent, has been observable in their catches of many 

 of the most important of our local fishes during recent years, such as 

 sand-eels, gras-dos (smelts), gurnard, conger, whiting, sarde (red bream), 

 flat-fishes, &c, -to say nothing of the dead oyster and ormer fisheries, or 

 of black breams and lobsters, about which we have statistics, definite and 

 incontrovertible. The decrease which is caused by actual scarcity of the 

 fish themselves is most marked in the catches of the flat-fishes generally 

 (plaice, soles, turbots, &c), the bream, sand-eels, gras-dos, and lobsters ; 

 in the case of the larger round fishes such as the whiting and the conger, 

 the cause is probably due to the marked decrease in the supply of bait 

 available in Jersey, especially so in the case of the squids (Septa and 

 Loligd), and of the " red-cat " bait worms {Nereis). Seven or eight years 

 ago plaice of large size were common in the large bays, measuring some 

 fourteen inches long on the average ; to-day such fine fish are extremely 

 rare, and our market depends for its supply upon imports from Plymouth, 

 Lowestoft and Grimsby. It is significant to notice that this decline in 

 plaice coincides with the sudden increase in the use of set-nets and draw- 

 nets in our bays that occurred some few years ago. Again, ten years ago 

 over forty boats hailing from the south coast, from La Rocque, Pontac, 

 St. Clement, St. Helier, and St. Aubin, earned large profits from the 

 breaming industry. This year the number was reduced to some half- 

 dozen boats taking largely reduced quantities. As to lobsters, I have 

 been fortunate in being kindly permitted access to certain private statis- 

 tics going back over thirty years ; and while I am not permitted to quote 

 figures, I may say that the decrease has progressed with ever-increasing 

 and most alarming rapidity, while the present year is practically the 

 worst on record. 



It is pertinent at this point to ask what are the probable causes of 

 such decrease. The chief may be listed as follows : — 



a. The use of nets of destructive form or with meshes of insufficient 

 size, whereby there is a pernicious destruction of immature fish. 



b. The want of adequate protection accorded to fish during the 

 breeding or spawning period and also while immature. The latter are 

 of trivial value as human food, but by reason of having survived through 



