of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



\:\\) 



During these five months of the year a considerable number of sale- 

 able crabs are obtained. In this case the catch contained 20,212 

 cribs. In October the price of crabs was Is. 3d. per dozen; in Novem- 

 ber 9d., Is., in December 9d., and in January Is. and Is. 3d. The ap- 

 proximate value of the catch, then, was — September, £11 3s. ; October, 

 £23 15s.; November, £14; December, £19 2s.; January, £17. The total 

 catch, then, for 70 days at sea brought £77, in which the four men form- 

 ing the crew participate. There is thus, over the period of 19 weeks, 

 an average of £4 7s. for the boat each week. The income is, 

 of course, subject to deductions of the expenses of the fishing. 

 In the event of a proposal to stop the crab fishing during the 

 autumn and winter, some alternative mode of fishing which would 

 recoup the fishermen ought to be available. Unfortunately the 

 only alternative in this case is line fishing, and that has during the 

 past few years been unremunerative. In 1895 and 1896 the value of 

 the line-caught fish landed at Dunbar was £3150 and £3874 respec- 

 tively, while in 1898 and 1899 the values were £1567 and £1704. 



The institution of a close time for the protection of the soft crabs is 

 a remedy which would press hardly in many localities. On the other 

 hand, the impossibility of otherwise protecting the soft crabs is not 

 proved. It is no doubt the case that soft crabs are often carelessly and 

 even wantonly destroyed. But if the use of soft crabs for bait be 

 prohibited, and the law which forbids their possession for any purpose 

 other than bait enforced, some benefit would undoubtedly accrue. 

 It is an error to suppose that the soft crabs succumb readily to slight 

 injury. All the soft crabs which were labelled at Dunbar had to be 

 brought ashore, and before they were labelled and returned to the sea 

 they were in some cases out of the water for six hours. Still, many 

 have been recovered. The majority of the soft crabs could be returned 

 to the sea immediately ; the only case when the thumb test is necessary 

 is when the crab has become almost hard enough to be marketable. 

 Even when this test is applied, it is not necessary to break the shell. 

 The destruction of soft crabs takes place mainly in harbour. They are 

 after exposure to air more liable to succumb to injuries. In the case of 

 very soft and light crabs, when the crab has been out of water some 

 time, the gill chamber becomes filled with air, and on the crab being- 

 thrown overboard it floats. It is often unable to get rid of the air. If, 

 however, the crab be held in the water with its anterior edge upwards, 

 the air escapes and the crab sinks. Many crabs recover from injuries 

 sustained through the thumb test. Twenty-five crabs were labelled and 

 set free after the thumb had been pushed through their shells. One 

 was recovered. 



There is good ground for the conclusion that the protection of small 

 and soft crabs would tend to improve the crab fishery ; and since it is 

 principally the crab fishers themselves who use these crabs for bait, 

 what they lost by the slightly increased expenditure for bait would 

 with every probability be more than returned to them in improved 

 catches. The increase of the legal minimum size, with a view to exclude 

 the so-called half -crabs from the market, is also probably economically 

 justifiable. 



The Crab and Lobster Act, &'c. 



The Fisheries (Oysters, Crabs, and Lobsters) Act (40 and 41 Vict., 

 ch. 42) enacted : — Section 8 — A person shall not take, have in his 

 possession, sell, expose for sale, consign for sale, or buy for sale — 

 I 



