SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 117 
of Ulverston Channel to the gulleries at the south end of Walney, 
with silvery fish projecting from their beaks. It is urged 
by the fishermen that the protection afforded under the Wild 
Birds Protection Acts has led to an enormous increase in the 
_ number of gulls. This has been accompanied by a corresponding 
increase in the destruction of shell-fish and of fish. There 
is no doubt that the gulls do eat the cockles, as the excreta 
and regurgitated stomach contents seen in the vicinity of 
a cockle bed prove. Partially destroyed fish can often be 
seen in the stake-nets one visits at low-water. It is quite 
possible that the fishermen are a good deal to blame by leaving 
unwanted cockles lying on the sand, and by not fishing the 
stake-nets as soon as they dry. 
In the Quarterly Report to the Seigntific Sub-Committee 
last November (see below, p. 157), I gave some evidence as 
to the shell-fish food of the gulls on the Bardsea Mussel bed 
and the Flookburgh Cockle bed. 
It must be remembered, however, that sea gulls are not 
entirely useless to man in general, although the fishermen 
may regard them as enemies. Their wholesale destruction, 
which is frequently suggested by the in-shore fishermen, 
might easily end in the cure being worse than the disease. 
_ It is intended to follow up this investigation, which can only 
be done during settled and fairly dry weather, to see how 
far the decreased activity in fishing the cockle beds diminishes 
the destructive action of the gulls. 
