THE TRAWLING GROUNDS 



43 



landed in England and Wales came from the Irish Sea, of these 

 the steamers averaged 0-93 cwt. per day's absence from port, and 

 the smacks 0*29. The number of separate landings was now 1951 

 for the steamers and 2494 for the smacks. The table gives the total 

 catches of soles : — 



Returns of the sizes of the soles were first given in the statistics 

 for the year 1909. The following shows the enormous quantities 

 of small soles now landed from the Irish Sea. 



Irish Sea Soles (Weights in Cwts.) 



The official statistics show that the weight of soles landed from 

 the Irish Sea has in eight years gone up from 83 cwt., in 1906, to 

 11,037 cwt., in 1913, in the case of steam trawlers. In 1909 the 

 steamers landed 42 cwt. of small soles, in 1913 no less than 2887 

 cwt. Theoretically, there can be no objection to the landing of 

 large or even of medium soles, but this practice of catching small 

 soles is very objectionable. The Irish Sea is, as regards both soles 

 and plaice, nothing more than a huge lake, and the question therefore 

 arises as to how far it can stand this enormous and rapidly increasing 

 strain ? All these small soles are immature fish. The sole matures 



