14 



MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE 



3 March 1904.] 



Mr. Walter Archer. 



[Continued. 



Ch a i rman — continued. 



landed in each month from Mai'ch, 1902, to 

 December, 1903 ; and it will be seen from this 

 Table that the occurrence of boxes of small 

 plaice on the London markets dates practically 

 from March to October, and that they are most 

 prevalent from April to July inclusive, the 

 quantity landed in those months being 80.6 per 

 cent, of the catch of the first complete year for 

 ■which figures are available. 



164. And where are they caught? — 173,693 

 cwts. of that quantity were caught off the Danish 

 coast east of longitude 730, south of latitude 56 

 and north of latitude 5330, that is to say, in 

 the area in which it was agreed at the conference 

 of the trawl fishing industry in 1890 not to fish, 

 and which is now generally known as the eastern 

 grounds. Your Lordships will be able to follow 

 this upon the map which is now produced. 



165. The white is sea, and the dark shading is 

 land ? — Yes, it is a chart. 



166. Will you put your finger on Heligoland ? 

 — It is just here (pointing out the samej. 



167. The area in question is really all the sea 

 round about Hehgoland ? — Yes, principally 

 between Heligoland and the Horn Reef. 



168. Then what proportion of the total catch 

 was represented by small plaice during those 

 months ? — 76 per cent, of the total catch, or if 

 each year between, separately, the proportions 

 are 82 per cent, in 1902 and 67 per cent, m 1903. 



169. Will you now, please, describe briefly to 

 the Committee how you took these observations 

 as regards the size ; I mean to say how you 

 averaged it; because, of com-se, you did not 

 examine every fish that came, you examined 

 certain boxes and from those you deducted the 

 average ? — To determine this, 149 boxes of 

 small plaice were bought in the open market 

 on 41 different occasions, spread over a period 

 from the 17th of April to the 11th of June, 1903, 

 and 41,484 were measured and tabulated. I may 

 say that the constituent elements of the boxes 

 grouped together in various ways showed a great 

 uniformity, and may be taken to represent, ivith 

 a considerable degree of acciu-acy, the propor- 

 tions obtained throughout the entire catch. 



170. You have told us what are the numbers ; 

 will you tell us something of the value of the 

 small plaice as compared with the total catch ? — 

 In 1902 the value of the total catch of the fleets 

 referred to on these grounds was 69,988i., and 

 of the small plaice 50,241i. 



171. What is the proportion of the value 

 then ?— The small plaice represent 71-8 percent, 

 of the whole. 



172. And in 1903 ? — In 1903 the total value 

 was 62,296i., of which small plaice represented 

 35,028?., and the proportion of small plaice is, 

 therefore, 562 per cent, of the total take. 



173. Do you beUeve from that information 

 which we have obtained, that if a limit of 11 

 inches below which plaice might not be landed 

 were imposed, the effect would be that it would 

 be unremunerative to fish in those eastern 

 grounds ?— Yes, I do. I think we should be 

 within the mark in steting that a limit of 11 

 inches would make it unremunerative. 



Gha irman — continued. 



174. What is the relative value of the fishing- 

 in these eastern grounds, and the fishing else- 

 where in the North Sea, and round about the 

 coast ? — The fleets from which we have obtained 

 returns were fishing between longitudes 2° and 

 6° east as well as on the eastern grounds during 

 1902 and 1903. Upon the map which I have 

 produced, the former area is coloured pink, the 

 latter yellow. In 1902, If 100 be Uken tO' 

 represent the profit per vessel per diem in the 

 pink area, the profit during the same period 

 would be represented by 127 in the yellow area. 

 In 1903 a similar estimate is represented by 100' 

 for the pink area and 70 for the yellow area. 



175. What do 3-ou deduce from that ? — That 

 fishing elsewhere would give a fair profit, and it,, 

 therefore, a size limit were imposed, it would 

 reduce the profit of fishing in the eastern 

 grounds, so that the fleets would abstain fr'om 

 fishing there. 



176. Therefore 3'ou conclude that if the profit 

 were reduced by the imposition of a size limit, 

 it would have the effect of inducing the fleet to 

 abstain from fishing on the yellow ground ? 

 —Yes. 



177. Will you now give the Committee some 

 information as to the migration westward of 

 small plaice in the summer ? — I have prepared 

 maps {producing the same) sho'iving the areas 

 fished by the steam fleets to wmch I have 

 referred. The manuscript figures in each square 

 indicate the percentage by weight borne by 

 small plaice to the total catch. The presence of 

 0, does not necessarily mean that there were no 

 small plaice, but indicates that the proportion 

 was too small to necessitate the sorting of the 

 catch into large, medium, and small. It will 

 be seen that the destruction of small plaice began 

 in March (in square 38 they formed 94 per- 

 cent, of the whole), and it continued on the 

 eastern gi-ounds until July. After this date 

 the small plaice began to move further 

 westward. 



178. Then after July do you find that the 

 small plaice are moving westward, and the catch 

 diminishes ?— That is so. I may say that in 

 July the fleets were only fishing for about the 

 first 10 days inside the eastern grounds. The 

 21 per cent., taken in square 38, in August, was 

 all caught outside the area of the eastern 

 grounds, and ] 5 and 12 per cent, were caught in 

 sqviares 42 and 43. In September and October 

 they have moved westward into deeper water 

 in square 37. In November, December, January, 

 and February the quantities are not sufficient to 

 necessitate the sorting of the catch into large, 

 medium and small. 



Lord Tweedmouth. 



179. Are they getting good catches of fish in 

 those squares during those months ? — Yes. 



Chairman. 



180. Therefore the object of the Bill, namely, 

 to prevent the catching of, at any rate, a large 

 proportion of small fish, would be attained if 



m these. 



