74 SALT-WATER FISHES 



he is concerned, be regarded as exhausted. Even if it were 

 possible, with new improvements in refrigerating apparatus, to 

 bring the fish in fresh and saleable condition from those very 

 distant grounds, the expense involved might be so great that 

 the sale of the fish would not leave a fair profit. Such a state 

 of afFairs is, needless to say, purely imaginary at present, and 

 the hypothesis is admitted only in order to illustrate the true 

 meaning of exhaustion of the fisheries as differentiated from 

 the total extermination of sea fish irrespective of locality. 



A long series of interesting experiments has been con- 

 ducted on various parts of our coasts with a view to 

 ascertaining, if possible, the damage done by the trawl, the 

 percentage of undersized and immature fish captured at various 

 depths and at every season, and the possibility of returning the 

 smaller fish, unfit for market, alive to the sea that they may 

 have another chance. The Scotch Fishery Board even closed 

 a large and important inshore area against commercial trawling, 

 and made a number of experimental hauls, the results of 

 which were carefully summarised by Dr. Wemyss Fulton. 

 Yet it has always seemed to the writer that too little allowance 

 is made for the wide difference between these delicate scientific 

 experiments, with fine gear and generally in fine weather, and 

 the rougher trawling for the market in all weathers and over 

 some of the worst ground on which trawls can possibly work — 

 ground on which the valuable apparatus belonging to our 

 marine laboratories would not, as a rule, be risked. 



As to the damage done by the trawl, we may perhaps 

 safely say that the flat-fish suffer less than the round, for 

 they are able to shut their gills down more tightly, and thus 

 escape suffocation, while their flattened shape, adapted as it is 

 to bear pressure without inconvenience, probably stands them 

 in good stead when they are being dragged along in the dihris 

 of the trawl. There can be no doubt about the larger trawls 

 destroying vast quantities of ridiculously small fish. The 

 offence of the smaller-meshed shrimp-trawl is even worse. 



