[ vi ] 



Elliott, 26. 



by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. In this respect the Committee 

 have had an advantage over any previous fishery inquiry, in that in addition 

 to statistics regarding the quantity and value of the fish landed, they have 

 had laid before them statistical data regarding the quantity of small plaice 

 landed at each of the trawling ports on the East Coast for a complete year, 

 the proportion they bear to the total take, the locality, and season at which 

 the majoiity are caught, and the actual size of the fish in boxes of " small 

 plaice." 



Hellyer, 1396. 

 Towse, 858. 



6. The COMMITTEE have found great difficulty in arriving at any 

 conclusion as to how far the amount of flat fish in the North Sea has 

 diminished in recent years. The statistics of landing are in no way com- 

 parable one year with another, inasmuch as the catching power of the vessels 

 and the distance to which they can go, is constantly increasing. The substi- 

 tution of steam for saihng trawlers, the adoption of the Otter Trawl, and 

 the increased length of beam of the Beam Trawl, the discovery of extensive 

 fishing grounds off the coast of Iceland and the Faroe Islands, leave no room 

 for comparison of the catch formerly made in nearer waters by the old- 

 fashioned boats. 



Appendix A. 

 Appendix D. 



7. Evidence was adduced which showed that of the 887,599 cwts. of plaice 

 landed in England and Wales, from 110,000 to 115,000 cwts. landed at 

 East Coast ports came from Iceland, Faroe, and fishing grounds outside the 

 limits of the North Sea. 



Lovell, 2391-2 ; 

 2402. 



8. Mr. Lovell, who claimed to represent 2,000 persons engaged in the 

 fried fish trade in London, informed the Committee that it was increasingly 

 difficult to get plaice of a size sufficient to meet the demands of the trade 

 and, in consequence, turbot, brill, skate, megrims, and even dog-fish were 

 used in the fried fish business, though the preference for plaice is such that all 

 fried fish is sold under that designation. 



Appendix C. 

 Elliott, 28. 



9. Your COMMITTEE have ascertained that Great Britain and Norway 

 are the only countries bordering on the North Sea in which there is no size 

 limit for flat fish ; that in Denmark there is a size limit for plaice of 9f inches, 

 in Belgium and at the North Sea Ports of Germany of 7 inches, in Holland 

 of 6J inches, and in France of 5^ inches. In the United States, to 

 which reference was made in the Report of the Select Committee of the 

 House of Commons in 1900, there is no Federal Statute bearing on the 

 subject, and the Bureau of Fisheries do. not recall any State legislation, 

 which relates directly to the protection of undersized fish, and are not aware 

 that any investigations have been undertaken with regard to the distribution 

 of small flat fish. 



Archer, 177. 



Archer, 164. 



Archer, 25-i6-8. 



10. From an examination of the statistics of the quantity of small plaice 

 landed in London by the carriers bringing fish direct from certain fleets 

 fishing in the North Sea, it has been ascertained that the receipt of 

 boxes of small plaice dates from March to October, and is most prevalent 

 from April to July inclusive, the quantity landed in those months being 

 80 per cent, of the catch of the first complete year for which statistics are 

 available. Further, that of 229,076 cwts. landed in those months in 1902 

 and 1903, 173,693 cwts. were caught off the Danish coast, east of longitude 

 7"30, south of latitude 56, and north of latitude 53-30, being the sea around 

 Heligoland and between that island and the Horn Beef. Small plaice are 

 estimated to have been 82 per cent, of the total catch of all fish on these grounds 

 in 1902 and 67 per cent, in 1903, while the value in 1902 of the total catch was 

 69,988/., of which 50,241/. was small plaice, or 71 per cent, of the total, and 

 in 1903 62,296/., of which small plaice represented 35,028/., or 56 per cent. 

 This seems to prove conclusively that a very large proportion of the total 

 amount of small plaice sold comes from that area, and is caught in those 

 months. 



