66 THE SEA FISHERIES 



important constituent of the catch, as in Iceland, North Sea and 

 English Channel the general tendency is for the proportion of large 

 plaice to be diminished during the course of the five years (1906-10). 

 Off Rockall, especially, this decrease is remarkable. 



In 1911 the total quantity of plaice landed from the White Sea 

 was much the same as in 1910. but a great deal more iSshing was 

 necessary to make up the total. The average catch per day decreased 

 from 46 to 34 cwt., that is 26 per cent. As a matter of fact, this 

 fishery reached its zenith in 1909. On the whole, 1911 showed a 

 slight improvement (986,165 cwt.) as compared with 1910, but the 

 total was still below that of 1909. The percentage of small plaice 

 landed from the North Sea had by now reached the enormous 

 figure forty-eight. 



In 1912 (834,271 cwt.) there was a considerable decline ; every 

 region with the exception of Iceland being affected. From the 

 White Sea only 110,848 cwt. were landed, this representing 13-36 

 per cent of the total, a remarkable decline since the previous year, 

 when 255,708 cwt. were landed, constituting 25-99 per cent of the 

 total. The catch per day's absence fell from 33-72 cwt. to 20-15 cwt. 

 There are also marked decreases in the total quantity landed, and 

 in the catch per day's absence in 1912 in the Irish Sea, South of 

 Ireland and Bristol Channel. 



Finally in 1913 the total landings of plaice by first-class vessels 

 fell considerably, and though now a larger percentage of the total 

 was contributed by the North Sea than in 1912, the total landings 

 were, as a matter of fact, less. There were decreased landings by 

 vessels of every class, from every region yielding appreciable 

 quantities of plaice except Faroe and the Irish Sea, the largest 

 change being that in the White Sea. In this region there can be 

 no doubt that the general stock of plaice has diminished so much 

 during the last few years that trawlers find it hardly worth while 

 visiting the ground. " The most experienced fishermen believe, 

 rightly or wrongly, that the plaice stock of the Barents Sea has 

 been so seriously reduced by the operations of earlier years that, 

 except for limited periods, this species can no longer profitably 

 be made the object of a special fishery."^ As will be seen from the 

 following tables, in 1906 the number of days' absence of English 

 trawlers (steam) in the North Sea was 164,321, and in 1913 147,301. 

 The number of landings by the North Sea steam trawlers decreased 

 in the same period from 26,498 to 25,327. The average catch in 

 cwt. of all fish per day's absence from port fell from 17-60 in the 

 former year to 14-08 in the latter. Plaice fell similarly from 2-15 



' Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Annual Report on Sea Fisheries, for the 

 year 1913, Part I, p. 6. Cd. 7449. London, Wyman and Sons, 1913. 



