150 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



have too many plaice, if we could put them where they 

 would be of use to the industry. It is just the same as 

 the case of the small mussels ; if we can transplant a fair 

 proportion of the latter into grounds where they will grow 

 to be big enough to be marketable, then restriction of the 

 legal size would be of service to the industry; but if we 

 do not transplant them, then (apart from economic 

 reasons) there is no reason why the fishermen should not 

 be allowed to take them. If we could transplant the 

 undersized plaice from such areas as Rock Channel to 

 other fishing grounds where they would grow well, 

 protection and restriction of the trawl-mesh might be of 

 advantage. But as it is, these restrictive regulations 

 appear to me to be of doubtful utility. Before one 

 advocates restriction of mesh on these grounds he ought 

 to be sure that this kind of regulation would result in an 

 increase of larger plaice elsewhere. Can we be sure that 

 this result would be produced? 



Even if it were produced; even if restriction of the 

 powers of capture within territorial limits were to lead 

 to an increase of larger plaice outside territorial limits, 

 would one be justified in advocating such restrictive 

 legislation ? For it would involve penalising the in-shore 

 fishermen possessing only small fishing vessels, or fishing 

 by stake-nets, trammels, or " tees," for the benefit of the 

 off-shore fishermen possessing sea-going boats. If the 

 public fish supply were to benefit greatly by such legisla- 

 tion it might be, on the whole, expedient that a few 

 fishermen should suffer for the advantage of the nation; 

 but we should like to be quite certain that the benefit 

 would be very great compared with the suffering. These, 

 however, are economic questions which do not quite come 

 within the scope of a strictly scientific report. 



It must not be forgotten that the settlement of the 



