SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 133 



and in Channel Course. One hundred and twenty plaice 

 were marked and liberated, and up to the time of writing 

 37 of these have been returned to me — that is, in less than 

 two months nearly 31 per cent, of these fishes have been 

 recaught. The results of this experiment are represented 

 in Plate II, and it will be seen that, with a few exceptions, 

 all the fishes returned have been caught in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the place of liberation. Three plaice 

 have migrated off shore, and three have travelled along the 

 coast, and have been recaught in the Dee. The large red 

 spots on the Chart represent the recapture of fish liberated 

 in Red "Wharf Bay in September, 1906, but of these five 

 were recaught at the end of that year and the beginning of 

 1907, and only one plaice caught in the present season's 

 fishing belongs to last year's lot. We may conclude then 

 that the stock of plaice appearing in the autumn in the 

 Red Wharf Bay area of each year represents a new stock, 

 and it is very probable that there are plaice which have 

 migrated out from the shallow waters along the North 

 Wales coast and from Mehai Straits, since there are no 

 indications from these marking experiments of a migration 

 into this area from the shallow water nurseries on the 

 Lancashire coast. 



The results of this experiment indicate a great 

 intensity of fishing on the coast of North Wales during the 

 autumn and early winter. We know that this is the case 

 apart altogether from the results of the marking experi- 

 ments, and it appears from the returns of fish landed at 

 Bangor that the present autumn and winter (1907) has 

 been quite exceptional wuth regard to the amount of fish- 

 ing in Red Wharf Bay and Channel Course. One would 

 naturally conclude from the fact that over 30 per cent, 

 of the plaice marked and liberated have been recaught 

 within two months that the fishing had been very intense ; 



