238 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the prevalent size of these fish would be 30 instead of 23 cms., 

 the fisheries would become still more valuable. Apparently 

 it is some such ideas that are at the bottom of any suggestions 

 for size-limits, etc. 



The Possible Effects of Legislative Restrictions. 



The only kinds of restrictions or prohibitions that seem 

 to be " practical politics " are (1) the closure of spawning, or 

 nursery grounds, and (2) the imposition of size-limits. One 

 may ask, first of all, whether it is practicable to enforce such 

 restrictions or prohibitions. Of course this is no business of a 

 scientific investigator any more than it is the business of the 

 Central Authority (which has, of course, no power of actual 

 fishery regulation, but is only responsible for the approving, 

 or initiation, of policies). Still the whole affair, that is, the 

 initiation, approval, and enforcement of legislative proposals, 

 ought to be one, and any person that recommends a policy 

 ought to be prepared to consider whether or not it is practicable. 

 He ought also to consider in what way it is going to affect 

 the existing fishery customs and populations. It must be said 

 that a fair amount of actual contact with the fishermen of this 

 coast, and some experience of the difficulty and enforcing highly 

 unpopular restrictions does not encourage us to regard anything 

 of the kind with much favour. 



The Protection of the Spawning Grounds. 



Should we add significantly to the number of marketably 

 valuable plaice in the Irish Sea by preventing the capture of 

 spawning fish on the Solway grounds ? Any measure, of this 

 nature would mean the closure of a fairly well-defined area, 

 and the employment, therefore, of an efficient police. It is, 

 further, an " international " question since the area is mostly 

 outside territorial waters. We are not certain, in any case, 

 that it is the eggs and larvae of the plaice, in the Irish Sea, that 



