CONSIDERATION OF INDIVIDUAL FISH 69 



out by W. S. Masterman,^ of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. 

 The chief points dealt with in his reports are : (i) Whether an 

 increase or decrease in the stock of plaice in the North Sea can be 

 denaonstrated ; (2) whether the fish are taken in too great quantities 

 before they reach the best marketable size ; (3) whether certain 

 areas, and if so which, form the nurseries for young plaice, and how 

 far young plaice migrate to other areas as they increase in size, 

 and (4) the probable effect of certain regulations for the protection 

 of small plaice. Large numbers of selected samples of plaice from 

 various fishing ports (e.g. Grimsby, Lowestoft, Boston, Ramsgate), 

 landed from all the important grounds in the North Sea were weighed 

 and measured. All trade categories were dealt with, and in addition 

 other investigations such as those into the age-groups and sex were 

 made. An important summary appeared in the third volume of 

 the reports, and this was accompanied by a full and detailed dis- 

 cussion of the question. Unfortunately it is impossible to give 

 more than the briefest outline of Masterman's recommendations 

 here. So far as English steam trawling is concerned, the results 

 of his investigations deal with the possible enactment of one of four 

 size limits, viz. 20, 23, 26 and 29 cm. (e.g. about 8, 9^, loj and 

 iif in.). 



He says that two facts must clearly be borne in mind with regard 

 to a size limit, (i) Unless it prevents trawlers from going into those 

 areas where the small plaice are to be protected it will serve no 

 useful purpose, since it is probable that very few of the small plaice 

 if thrown back in the sea, would survive ; and (2) the loss of value 

 of the catch must therefore be sufficiently great to force the trawlers 

 to seek their fishing elsewhere than on those grounds, where at 

 certain periods of the year the small plaice are found in great 

 quantities. The above size limits are then considered from these 

 points of view in some detail. With respect to the 20 cm. limit 

 it is evident that, taking the North Sea as a whole, this limit would 

 practically effect nothing with regard to the English trawlers, 

 for while the loss of 0-3 per cent by weight of the catch would not 

 prevent trawlers from fishing, the fact that this comparatively 

 negligible quantity was returned to the sea, even if the fish were 

 all alive, would have no material effect on the supply. 



With regard to the next limit investigated (23 cm.), Masterman 

 says that probably it would not be sufficiently high to render 

 fishing unremunerative. The next limit (26 cm.) would probably 

 be sufficient to render it unremunerative to fish in the small plaice 

 areas, especially in the spring and autumn, owing not only to the 

 loss of value, but also to the fact that many hauls in these grounds 



1 See Bibliography at end of volume. Plaice Fisheries, 4 vols. (p. 285). 



