28 



Appendices to Twenty -eighth Annual Repwt 



The excuse that flounders can only be caught by means of large and 

 expensive nets, stretched on stakes, roofed and floored with netting, need 

 scarcely, I think, be considered. From all the evidence of the many cases 

 tried, it appeal's clear that if move valuable fish than flounders were not 

 taken the outlay for equipment would entirely swamp all possibility of 

 profits. 



The peculiar physical conditions under which the fishing is carried on, 

 the wide expanses of mud and sand, render, no doubt, some special features 

 to the case, but flounders really do not require elaborate nets for their 

 capture. 



In Morecambe Bay and neighbouring flat shores of the Lancashire and 

 Western district, stake nets are used to catch flounders, the physical 

 conditions being very similar to those which obtain in the Solway. The 

 nets in question are of considerable length, and from 6 to 10 feet high. 

 As in the Solway, the flounders are caught by being retained in the net as 

 the tide recedes, so that ultimately they are left high and dry. But no 

 pockets are used in the nets, and it is clear that no pockets are necessary. 

 The stake net fishing for- flounders is regulated by bye-laws of the 

 Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee. With the view of 

 allowing undersized fish to pass through the nets, a minimum size of mesh 

 is fixed. A gauge of If inches measured across each side of its square, or 

 7 inches round the mesh, has been selected, and this, curiously enough, 

 corresponds with our salmon net mesh. 

 The further regulations are as follow : — 



" No person shall use in fishing for sea fish any stake net except 

 in accordance with the following regulations : — 

 (a) The site of the net shall be marked by poles, perches, or buoys, 

 visible above the surface at any state of the tide, and such poles, 

 perches, or buoys shall be maintained so long as the stakes of the 

 net continue in position. The net shall be legibly marked, with 

 the owner's name affixed to the end stakes, so long as the stakes 

 continue in position. 

 (6) No portion of the net shall be nearer the centre of any stream or 

 channel than the edge of such stream or channel at low water of 

 the tide during which the net is fishing." 

 A further regulation which affects the matter is : — 



" No person shall use in fishing for mackerel, herring, sparling, 

 shrimps, or prawns, any method or instrument of fishing, 

 except at the times and places at which and in the manner 

 in which such method or instrument may be reasonably calcu- 

 lated to take such fish respectively." 

 I am indebted to Mr. J, G. Muspratt, the CJerk to the Joint Committee, 

 for the above information. 



I now desire to remind the Board that even if all the Solway river 

 districts were provided with District Fishery Boards, such Boards would 

 be unable to deal with the regulation of white-fish nets. District Boards 

 exist for the purpose of administering locally the Salmon Fishery Acts. 



In the interests of the salmon fisheries of the Solway, therefore, and 

 without, in my opinion, doing any material damage to the white fishing 

 interests, I would venture to suggest that a suitable bye-law regulating Lhe 

 form which white-fish nets may assume on the wide sandy flats, within a 

 given distance of any river mouth, might with advantage be passed. 



