78 



Part III. — Eighteenth Annual Report 



and in various ways its provisions have been rendered more stringent 

 by local bye-laws.* They have resulted in (1) an increase in the legal 

 minimum size to 5 inches, in one district (Lancashire) to 6 inches ; (2) 

 the protection of small and soft crabs ; (3) the institution of a close time, 

 the main object of which is the protection of soft crabs. In the 

 protection of crabs there is no difficulty such as is encountered in the 

 case of fishes, where capture may result in serious injury. The crabs 

 which may be protected by law can be returned to the sea uninjured. 



As a necessary prelude to legislation, attention has been directed to 

 the study of the life-history of the crab ; and on this subject papers have 

 been published by Wilson, f Meek,+ and Cunningham. § Much 

 remains to be done, however, ere the life of this form and its relation 

 to the industry can be regarded as fully known. Mr. W. E. Archer 

 and Mr. H. M. Malan, H.M. Inspectors of Fisheries for England and 

 Wales, in their report to the Board of Trade anent the proposal of the 

 Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee to institute a close season for 

 crabs, said, inter alia: — "We think that if these considerations were 

 pointed out to the Committee they might be moved to take steps to 

 obtain more definite information respecting the life-histories of lobsters 

 and crabs, which could not fail to be of the utmost importance, both to 

 themselves and the country, on a question which at present gives rise to 

 such conflicting opinions." 



An important point is raised by the question whether or not an 

 increase in the legal limit would tend to raise the average size of the 

 crabs captured. On the East Coast the crabs are small; in Cornwall 

 very large crabs are taken. The numbers of male crabs over 8 inches 

 in breadth captured in the latter district is, as may be seen from 

 Cunningham's report § (p. 20), considerable. The crabs caught at 

 Dunbar do sometimes reach that size, one female, which came 

 under my own observation, measuring 8 T 3 g- inches. Spence Bate |j 

 was of the opinion "that the small size of the crabs on the East 

 Coast is due to the temperature ; and that Cornwall, where the 

 largest crabs are taken, is the central habitat of the species." This 

 is a view which is probably open to question. It may in part be 

 due to the fact that the crab fishing is more actively pursued on the 

 East Coast than in Cornwall. The Commissioners of 1876 reported, 

 with regard to the fishing in Cornwall (p. x.), " that storms constantly 

 interfere with the calling of the fishermen, and the weather itself 

 imposes a natural close season without the intervention of Parliament." 

 There is no evidence that the crab fishing in Scotland is declining, 

 though very great fluctuations in the total catch appear from year to 

 year (vide Table, p. 134). From 1895-1898 the number of creels owned 

 by the fishermen increased from 71,968 to 77,157. How far the increase 

 in gear is accountable for the increased take is an open question. 



The institution of a close season with the view of protecting the soft 

 crabs is a remedy which in the present condition of the inshore line 

 fishing would press hardly on the fishermen of certain localities. In 

 Dunbar, for example, the boats, which are small and undecked, are 

 unfitted for the active prosecution of the line fishing. The boats are 



* The new regulations are summarised on p. 140. 



f Wilson, Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee, Reports on the Crab Fishery, 

 1893 and 1895. Newcastle-omTyne. 



X Meek, Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee, Reports on the Trawling Excur- 

 sions, 1897, 1898, 1899. Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



§ Cunningham, Cornwall County Council, Report of the Executive Committee for 

 Fisheries, 1897-98. Penzance, 1898. 



Ii Reports on the Crab and Lobster Fisheries of England and Wales, of Scotland, and 

 of Ireland [C. 1695], 1877. England, p. 56. 



