Xll PKOCEEDINGS OF THE 



A Draft Report prepared by the Chairman is laid before the Committee, and is as follows: — 



■' The Committee appointed by your Lordships' House to consider the Sea Fisheries Bill have 

 examined witnesses representing the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Scottish Fishery 

 Board, the Irish Department of Agricultural Education, the Fishmongers' Company, the Marine 

 Biological Association, the Steam Trawlmg Trade, and others ; as well as fishermen and owners of 

 sailing smacks round the coast of England. They have also examined representatives from the 

 Sea 1^'isheries District Committees along the coast. 



" 1. Several Bills have been introduced into Parliament to prevent the destruction of 

 undersized flat fish, and more than one Committee has considered the subject. 



" 2. In 1893, a Select Committee of the House of Commons reported that a considerable 

 diminution had occurred amongst the more valuable classes of flat fish in the great fishing grounds 

 of the North Sea, especially among soles and plaice, and they suggested a size limit in this 

 country approximate to that already adopted by some Continental countries. 



" 3. The last Bill was that introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Ritchie in 1900, 

 and proposed to prohibit the sale in all places and at all times of plaice and soles under 8 inches, 

 and turbot and brill under 10 inches. _ 



' 4. That Bill was referred to a Select Committee of the House of Commons, who reported in 

 the first place that it was proved beyond doubt that there was a very serious diminution of the 

 .supply ot certain kinds of flat fish, particularly in the North Sea, that the evil was a growing one, 

 and that in defaidt of a remedy the consequences to the fishing industry in the diminished supply of 

 flat fisli would at no very distant future be disastrous. The Committee also thought that it was 

 established that there were certain well-known areas in the North Sea, where small and young fish 

 undoubtedly do congregate, and that to prevent fishing in such areas would be obviously of great 

 value. The Committee were of opinion that one of the causes of this diminution was the destruc- 

 tion of immature fish. The Committee felt, however, that it would not be expedient to pass the 

 Bill without further inquiry and investigation, especially as to whether the prohibition of the sale 

 of fish below the limits proposed in the Bill would not make it worth while tor fishermen to resort 

 to places where the small fish abound, and as to the particular sizes proposed to be prohibited. 

 They also suggested that the precise position of foreign law in regard to restrictive legislation and 

 its results should be ascertained. 



" 5. Your Committee, therefore, sought to ascertain what further inquiry and investigation had 

 been made since 1900, and they found that the various suggestions made by the Select Committee 

 have been investigated by the Board of Trade, and more recently at the hands of the Board ot 

 Agriculture and Fisheries. In this respect they have had an advantage over any previous fishery 

 inquiry, in that in addition to statistics regarding the quantitj' 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 place and season at which the majority are caught, and the actual size of the fish in boxes of 

 " small plaice. 



" 6. Your Committee have found great difiiculty in arrivmg at aijy 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 wa}' comparable one year with another, inasmuch as the catching power of the vessels 

 and the distance to which they can go, is constantly increasing. The substitution of the steam 

 for the sailing trawlers, the invention of the Otter Trawl, the discovery of extensive fishing grounds 

 off the coast of Iceland and the Faroe Islands, leaves no room for comparison of the take formerly 

 made in nearer waters by the old-fashioned boats. 



" 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. 



" 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 difiicult to get plaice of a size sufficient 

 to meet the demands of the trade, and, in consequence, skate, megrins, and even dog-fish were 

 used in the fried fish business, though the demand for plaice is such that all fried fish is sold under 

 that designation. 



" 9. Your Comnuttee have ascertained that Great Britain and Norway are the only countries 

 borderin<^ on the North Sea in which there is no size limit for flat fish ; that in Denmark there is a 

 size limit for plaice 9| inches, in Belgium and at the North Sea Ports of Germany of 7-1 inches, in 

 Holland of 6-sth inches, while in the United States there is no Federal Statute hearing on the 

 subject, and the Bureau of Fisheries do not recall any State legislation, which relates directly to 

 the protection of ii:. mature fish, and no investigations have been undertaken with regard to the 

 distribution of small flat fish. 



