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Part III. — Eighteenth Annual Report 



destroy 5200 crabs. If this is multiplied by the number of boats 

 engaged in the fishing, a number of crabs is obtained the destruction of 

 which is a serious loss to the fishery. In addition to a loss through the 

 breaking up of soft crabs, a further injury is done during the rest of the 

 year by the use of small hard crabs for bait. A small crab supplies only 

 two baits. It has certainly been the case to some extent lately that the 

 fishermen have been forced to buy trawled fish bait for their creels. 

 This was owing to the scarcity of haddocks in the inshore waters ; but 

 so long as the fish are sufficiently abundant to repay the labour of 

 baiting the lines, crabs are used for bait.* In the North-Eastern and 

 Eastern districts of England the use of small and soft crabs for bait is 

 forbidden. In the Northumberland district, although no prohibition 

 exists, the fishermen are not accustomed to use crabs for this purpose. 

 The question then arises, in the event of this practice being prohibited, 

 whether the only method of securing the enforcement of the law is a 

 close time. The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of 

 the crab fishery were of this opinion, but the conditions are now much 

 different. A close time, from the 1st September of one year to the 31st 

 day of January following, is in force in the North-Eastern district of 

 England ; and in 1898 an inquiry was held by Mr. W. E. Archer and 

 Mr. H. N. Malan, Inspectors of Fisheries, into objections which were 

 raised to the proposal of the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee 

 to enact a close time of a similar extent in the district under their 

 jurisdiction. In their report to the Board of Tradet Messrs. Archer 

 and Malan summed up in opposition to the confirmation of the proposed 

 bye-law, which would have imposed a close time of five months' 

 duration. They say that " some of the evidence given to us might have 

 justified our recommending a shorter period if there had been less 

 conflict of opinion as to the months in which soft crabs are really taken 

 in the greatest numbers." . . . " Further, from the statistics 

 collected for the Board of Trade, it appears that during the five months 

 in question a considerable number of crustaceans, especially crabs, are 

 taken, and that at some stations the fishing is carried on at no 

 inconsiderable profit all the year round." 



With a view to arriving at the proportion of soft crabs in the 

 catches during the proposed close time, and also in order to find 

 out the value of the fishery during that period, arrangements were 

 made for having statistics kept of the daily catch of one Dunbar boat. 

 Mr. Hutchison, the deputy Fishery Officer, undertook the matter. The 

 catch was divided into soft and hard crabs ; each class was sub-divided 

 into crabs of 4| inches and over, and crabs under that size. The statistics 

 are arranged in Table XII. The number of creels used on each of the 

 60 occasions that the fishing was prosecuted was 60. The totals 

 for each month appear in Table XIII., where the percentages of hard and 

 soft crabs are also given. Of the gauge crabs in September an average 

 of 80 per cent, consisted of soft crabs ; in October and November the 

 soft crabs made up 55 and 42 per cent, of the gauge crabs respectively ; 

 and in December the proportion of soft crabs had fallen to 22 per cent.; 

 in January only 2 per cent, of the gauge crabs were soft. It is then 

 evident that, so far as the Dunbar evidence is applicable to other 

 districts, a close time of five months is not required for the protection 

 of soft crabs. And since there appears to be no indication of the 

 species being seriously reduced in numbers, any special protection which 

 the above close time would afford the spawning crabs is not called for. 

 * Along with mussels, limpets, and lobworms. 



f Sea Fisheries Regulation Acts, 1888-1894 : Report by Mr. W. E. Archer and Mr. H. 

 N. Malan, Inspectors of Fisheries, on an Inquiry into Bye-laws made by the Committee 

 for the Northumberland Sea Fisheries District with respect to Lobsters and Crabs, 

 7th January 1899. 



