DESTRUCTION OF IMMATURE FISH 291 



same time there appears to be a northerly drift 

 from the Straits of Dover along the Dutch coast. 

 The general result of such a drift is to carry the 

 eggs of any fish, such as plaice, spawned almost 

 anywhere in the North Sea, towards, and into, 

 the Bight of Helgoland and the shallow waters 

 off the coasts of Denmark and Holland. These 

 eggs undergo development and the little fishes 

 pass their first year of life close inshore, and 

 then move out towards deeper water — such water 

 and such a sea-bottom as are found on the 

 " Eastern Grounds.'.' ^ The same general move- 

 ment of eggs and larvae towards the coast, and 

 an opposite movement of the fishes as they grow 

 from the coast towards deeper water, exists on 

 a smaller scale on the east coast of Britain in 

 some places, and on the west coast of England. 

 Whether we consider these latter places, in many 

 of which shrimping grounds are situated, or the 

 larger area in the North Sea, the apparent result 

 is the same. We are not dealing with small 

 or stunted fishes in these inshore areas, but with 

 migratory fishes which are on their way outshore, 

 where they will grow into much larger and more 

 valuable animals. If we capture and destroy 

 them, we impoverish to that extent those off- 

 shore fishing grounds. The capture of these 

 fishes is therefore unfortunate : — 



1 Cunningham, Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, 

 1896, pp. 221-2. 



