SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 363 



13. — The Plaice Fishery. 



We are able to present here only a very brief sketch 

 of the economy of the Plaice, and the reader who is suffi- 

 ciently interested in this direction is referred to the very 

 extensive literature which has now been published in 

 Britain, Germany and Denmark. We propose to deal 

 only with the methods in use for the capture of the Plaice, 

 and with the causes of the apparent decline in value of the 

 fishery, and the regulations which have been suggested foi 

 the future welfare of the industry. 



Round the British coasts the Plaice is fished for in 

 three ways. It is caught by spearing, by means of stake 

 nets and by trawling. Of these methods the latter is 

 incomparably the most important. Comparatively tew 

 fish are caught by spearing, and this method is only pur- 

 sued in shallow waters and then to a very limited extent. 

 Stake-net fishing is much more important, and is carried 

 on at many parts of the coast on the foreshore between 

 tidemarks where conditions are suitable. The net is 

 about a yard in width and is of variable length. In 

 Lancashire waters it may not exceed 300 yards in length, 

 and it has a square mesh of either G or 7 inches in peri- 

 phery. It is stretched on a row of stakes driven into the 

 sand in a straight line, at right-angles to the direction of 

 the tidal flow. It may be provided with pockets. Fish 

 swimming with the tide are caught in the meshes and are 

 removed when the net is ''fished " at low water. At sea 

 the Plaice is fished by means of the trawl. The trawl net 

 is a conical bag of variable length. Its mouth is held 

 open by means of a wooden beam on which the net is 

 stretched, so that the open mouth is rectangular in shape. 

 At either end of the beam are fastened iron frames, the 

 " irons,'' the lower parts of which rest on the ground. The 



