SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 467 



Fishery regulations.* 



In section 8 of the Fisheries (Oysters, Crabs and 

 Lobsters) Act (40 & 41 Vict. ch. 42), the following restric- 

 tions are imposed: — 



A person shall not take or sell : — 



(1) Any edible crab which measures less than four 

 inches and a quarter across the broadest part of the back. 



(2) Any edible crab carrying spawn. 



(3) Any edible crab which has recently cast. 

 Such crabs may, however, be used for bait. 



In the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries 

 District the minimum legal size has been raised to five 

 inches. (Bye-law 255 : " No person shall remove from a 

 fishery any edible crab measuring less than five inches 

 across the broadest part of the back.") 



Size of crabs at maturity. 



Female. — There appears to be some difference of 

 opinion with regard to the size at which the female 

 becomes mature. Wilsonf had reason to believe that on 

 the Northumberland Coast the size of maturity is about 

 six inches. Williamson's X investigations, on the other 

 hand, show that the crabs of the east coast of Scotland 

 become mature when about four and a half inches in 

 width. I have examined crabs from Port Erin which 

 had been fertilised when about this size. It is probable 

 that a crab is mature when it has attained a size of 

 four and a half inches, but in many cases fertilisation may 

 not be effected until after the next casting. There is no 



* For a discussion on this subject read Williamson, IQth Annual 

 Report, p. 134. Other literature on this point is given by him on 

 p. 78 of the same report. 



f Wilson. Northumberland and Sea-Fisheries Committee, 1893 

 1895 ; Proceedings Royal Society, Edinburgh, 1892-3, p. 309. 



| Williamson. Eighteenth Report, p. 77. 

 GG 



