SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 149 



in the in-shore waters of Barrow Channel, I do not regard 

 the destruction of small plaice by the 6-inch net as waste- 

 ful. It is only in such an area as that in Rock Channel 

 that the 6-inch trawl appears to have taken an undesirable 

 proportion of plaice of lengths less than 8 inches. 



But there is evidence that this particular area is an 

 over-crowded fishing ground. There are enormous 

 numbers of plaice of 5, 6 and 7 inches in length. Even 

 in September, when the fish were, on the whole, largest, 

 there were only 30 per cent, over 8 inches long in the 

 sample catch. Now, plaice of 8 inches or thereabout do 

 not migrate out from shallow water. It is, probably, only 

 after they have grown to over this length that they move 

 out into the deeper channels, in large numbers at least. 

 While they remain in the shallow waters there are so 

 many of them that the available stock of food does not 

 appear to be sufficient; the condition is below that of 

 plaice from most other fishing grounds; and they are 

 gradually destroyed by other animals. Thus the figures 

 in the tables show that average weight of plaice in Hock 

 Channel is significantly less than that on the other 

 grounds. I do not lay much stress on the figures for the 

 lengths of these plaice in each of the first two complete 

 years of their life, but so far as these figures go they 

 seem to show that plaice of Age-Group II (over two and 

 less than three years old), are smaller in Rock Channel 

 than they are on other grounds. In the samples of plaice 

 taken from this ground one does not notice a great 

 increase in length as the year progresses. The fish remain 

 small all the time, for they do not grow quickly, and 

 their numbers are continually being added to from the 

 nursery area. There are too many of them, and they 

 might as well be captured by the fishermen as destroyed 

 by their natural enemies. In a certain sense we cannot 



