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JOURNAL OF THE PLTMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



A second question — Why has this evil been tolerated so long ? 

 is easily disposed of ; the answer to it may be found in the dis- 

 inclination which men have individually to interfere in matters 

 which do not directly affect their own pockets. If the poor rates 

 are increased by the demands for relief of destitute fishermen, 

 the tax is paid with a grumble, and that is all. There is no co- 

 operation to investigate and remove the cause of the destruction. 

 If railway companies find their returns for fish traffic falling off, 

 they utter lamentations, and hope for better things. If the fish- 

 market is scantily supplied, and the buyer has to pay shillings 

 where the same number of pence formerly sufficed to make the 

 requisite purchase, one only hears the remark. What an extrava- 

 gant price we are obliged to pay for fish ! 



With regard to the third question — What can be done to remove 

 the evil ? the lecturer considers the remedy at hand. He would 

 restrict trawling operations to daylight. He would have no trawl- 

 ing or ground net fishing in any of our bays or estuaries, nor 

 within three miles of any line stretching from headland to headland. 



Ey these means almost all the breeding ground and the nurseries 

 for the young fry would be preserved for stock producing purposes, 

 and for the benefit of the hook and line and floating net fishermen, 

 whose operations are perfectly harmless. 



With regard to the open sea fishing, he would have the ground 

 divided into districts, which should be fished in succession ; one 

 district being allowed to rest and recover, whilst the others were 

 free for fishing. Trawlers should be watched by cruisers or by 

 the coast-guard service, and if any expense should be thus incurred, 

 it should be met by a tax upon the trawler, by whom it would not 

 be at all felt, as his increased produce would more than cover it. 



In taking a review of the facts which he had the honour of 

 laying before the Society, though conscious of his inability to 

 treat the subject as its importance deserves, he had endeavoured 

 to establish the following facts : — 



1st. That our sea fishery is undoubtedly degenerating, and that 

 many causes conspire to bring about this effect, all more or less 

 attributable to the practice of unrestrained and reckless fishing, 

 regardless of economic provisions for the reproduction of stock. 



2nd. That if some steps be not taken to check the evil, it will 

 go on in an increasingly rapid ratio, until our once productive sea 

 borders are reduced to sandy deserts. 



