SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 257 



In another case three labels were sent to me which had 

 certainly lain in the finder's waistcoat pocket for some 

 months. They were accompanied by a very unconvincing 

 statement of the circumstances under which the fishes 

 were caught. Another case was reported to me as follows : 

 " .... I heard yesterday from a fish hawker of ... . 

 that he bought some fish of a trawler at ... . and he had 

 a marked fish and he laid it to one side and the cat ran 

 off with it. He says the No. was L 307. Of course I 

 said ' No label, no pay '. . . ." Other analogous leakages 

 have no doubt occurred. 



Then again, the proportion of fish caught depends 

 obviously on the amount of fishing which goes on in the 

 areas to which the marked fish migrate. Thus, the small 

 proportion of fish returned from Luce Bay is to be 

 attributed simply to this cause ; and the same may be 

 said of the relative lack of success which has attended the 

 marking of fish in Carnarvon and Cardigan Bays. A 

 glance over the general summary will bear this out. A 

 high percentage of the fish liberated on Blackpool Closed 

 Ground has been returned because these fish have for the 

 most part travelled alongshore into the shallow waters of 

 Morecambe Bay, the Ribble Estuary, and the Mersey 

 Grounds; and so also with the fish liberated off the 

 Mersey Banks. Although a number of fish have been 

 returned from offshore grounds, it must nevertheless be 

 borne in mind that fishing there is less intense than along 

 the shore, where, in addition to trawling by half-decked 

 boats, stake nets, trammels and " tees " also play their 

 parts. 



The chances that a fish living on the Eastern side of 

 the Irish Sea will be captured comparatively early in its 

 lifetime are greater than one imagines. We have a record 

 of one plaice which was captured three times before it 

 was three years of age, This fish (No. L 485) was first of 

 s 



