SELECT OOMJLITTEE ON THE SEA FISHERIES BILL. 



71 



10 March 1904] 



Mr. J. T. Cunningham, f.z.s. 



[Continued 



Chairman — continued, 

 industry ? — Yes, and to take oti' the limit afcer- 

 ivards if it was thought necessary. 



'Lord Heneage. 



1303. May I ask a question that I know you 

 have considei-ed, that is, with regard to the 

 months in which it Avoiild he most desirable to 

 prohibit the destruction of these fish, provided 

 they were not prohibited all the year round. 

 How many months should you say ihey ought 

 to be prohibited ? — My conclusions "on that sub- 

 ject are really rather based on Mr. Holt's statis- 

 tics at G^nl^bv than my own; but no doubt 

 they are perfectly trustworthy in every way. 

 The result is to show that the evil exists in any 

 serious degree only in the summer months 

 from March onwards : in fact sis months from 

 Mar'ch to August would be suliicient to stop the 

 iishing on the eastern grounds. 



1304. Would you advocate that these six 

 months should be the six months of the limit ; 

 or do you think it ought to be the whole year 

 round ? — I think the limit should be confined 

 to those six months, at all events to begin with ; 

 I do not think it should be. all the year round. 



1305. With regard to -what you said just 

 now about the sale of small fish in German 

 ports, are you aware that Mr. Archer in his 

 evidence said that he had made enquiry with 

 regard to that, and that only 6'4 per cent, of the 

 whole of the small fish caught was landed in 

 Germany ? — I was not aAvare of that. 



Lord Heneage — continued. 



1306. And that there was really no market 

 for them in German}^ except at Altona and 

 Hamburg. And there only a small market ? 

 — No, I have not made those enquiries. 



Lord XurflAourae. 



1307. The plaice, like the sole, is an animal 

 that breeds only on ooze, or mud, or sand ; you. 

 do not find them among rocks ? — It lives on 

 mud and sand ; it does not live among rocks. 

 Did you say breeding ? 



1308. Yes? — The breeding has nothing to 

 do with the grcund properly speaking ; the fish 

 only sheds its eggs, and the eggs float towards 

 the surface. 



Duke oi Abercorn. 



1309., Are you aware that the law of Den- 

 mark is that all imdersized fish have to be 

 thrown overboard by the trawler ? — Yes, ;ind 

 other fishermen too. I believe ; not only the . 

 trawlers. There are a lot of in-shore fishermen 

 in Denmark, and the limit has been in existence 

 some time. 



1310. I suppose by that means a large number, 

 of these undersized fish would have their lives 

 saved ? — Yes, it applies to all kinds of fishing, 

 especially seining, where all the fish thrown over-,, 

 board into the water survive. 



The AVitness is directed to withdraw. 



Mr. CHAKLES HELLYER is called in ; and Examined as follows : 



Cliairman. 



1311. You are. I think a Justice of the Peace 

 ibr one of the divisions of Yorkshire. You are 

 Chairman and Managing Director of Hellyer's 

 Steam Fishing Company, Limited ; Vice-Chair- 

 nnan of The Hull Steam Fishing and Ice 

 Company ; a Director of The Hull Fishing 

 Vessel and Owners' Association ; a Director of 

 The Humber Steam Trawlers' Mutual Insuraiice 

 and Protecting Company, and a member of the 

 Shipping Committee of the Hull Chamber of 



'Commerce? — I am. 



1312. Have you considered this Bill? — Yes, 

 I have. 



1313. And do you think it would be advan- 

 tageous for the fishing trade if it were passed 

 into law ? — We do. 



1314. Are you of opinion that the elasticity 

 of the Bill and the powers which are reserved to 

 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries are 

 preferable to a hard-and-fast limit as laid down 

 in previous Acts of Parliament? — We should 

 .iigree to those powers generally ; but taking the 

 object of the Bill, which is to preserve these 

 undersized flat fish which abound on the east 

 side of the North Sea, we think that all ports of 

 England and Scotland which are adjacent to 

 that coast should be prohibited from landing 

 such flsh. 



1315. There is nothing in the Bill to prevent 

 -.that, is there ? — No, I think not 



1316. On tie other hand if it were found 



Chairman — continued. 



that there were some ports even on the east 

 coast where no undersized flat fish from the 

 eastern grourids were landed, it would be pos- 

 sible, would it not, to exempt those ports ? — We 

 think they might be exempted if there was no 

 evil done at those ports. 



1317. As a matter of fact at the present time, 

 are there many ports on the east coast at which 

 undersized flat fish are landed from the eastern 

 grounds ? — Yes, there are a good many ; there 

 are Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Baston, Lynn Deeps, 

 The Wash, The Humber, Hartlepool, The Tees, 

 and probably Aberdeen. 



1318. And j'ou say those fish all come from 

 the eastern grounds ? — No, not all of them ; 

 those at the Wash do not, th^se are local under- 

 sized fish. 



1319. Perhaps the Wash would be one ot 

 those places which in your opinion might be 

 exempt, you said that there might be some ? — 

 1 think not, because the estuary of the Wash is 

 one of the places w^here the spawn of the fish is 

 subject to be held, the estuary of the Wash 

 is suitable as a nursery, and then those fish 

 return again to the North Sea. Therefore we 

 should not agree for the Wash to be exempted 

 because it is one of the nurseries of the North 

 Sea. 



1320. You do not imagine, do you, that it 

 would be possible to prevent the destruction of 

 all the undersized fish in the North Sea?- --No. 



1321. Yon 



