332 Part HI — Thirteenth Annual Report 



SECTION D.— CONTEMPORARY WORK. 



AN ACCOUNT OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENTIFIC FISHERY 

 WORK AND FISHERIES IN THIS AND OTHER COUN- 

 TRIES By Dr T. Wemyss Fulton, F.R.S.E., Superintendent of 

 Scientific Investigations. 



1. UNITED KINGDOM. 



In recent numbers of the Journal of the Marine Biological Association. 

 Mr W. E. Holt gives further instalments of the results of his investiga- 

 tions on North Sea Fisheries, and especially on the capture and destruc- 

 tion of immature fish. He states that the size-limits for flat-fishes pro 

 posed by the Parliamentary Committee on Sea Fisheries, in 1893, 

 ' would, if carried into effect, leave the North Sea Fishery practically in 

 ' statu quo ' ; and in view of the difference in size at which maturity is 

 attained by fish in different districts, he recommends that the size-limit 

 should be treated separately in each district.* The statistics collected by 

 Mr Holt in regard to the quantities of flat-fish landed at Grimsby, show 

 that in the six months, May to October 1892, a total of 86,000 boxes of 

 plaice was landed at that port, compared with 125,000 boxes in the 

 following year. The apparent increase of 39,000 boxes is for the most 

 part accounted for by an increase of 30,000 boxes of Iceland fish, leaving a 

 North Sea increase of 9000 boxes. An examination of the details shows 

 that, with respect to the sizes of the fish, there was in 1893 a total of 

 71,000 boxes of 'large' fish and 22,000 boxes of 'small/ as against 

 73,000 boxes of 'large' and 11,000 boxes of 'small' in 1892. The 

 increase therefore was entirely confined to Iceland and ' small ' North Sea 

 fish, while in ' large ' North Sea fish there was a deficit of 2000 boxes. 

 Mr Holt continues : ' That plaice are actually decreasing in the North Sea 

 ' is a fact so generally recognized that it hardly needs illustration, but 

 1 the present scarcity may not be so apparent from figures dealing with 

 ' aggregate catches as it becomes when we examine the catches of indi- 

 1 vidual boats. In examining the total figures it must be borne in mind 

 ' that the fishing power is enormous, our own large fleet being supple- 

 1 mented not only by foreigners, but by vessels hailing from other British 

 1 ports, such as Scarborough, Shields, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and even 

 ' Milford Haven. The scarcity is most felt in the winter months, when, 

 ' for whatever reason, the fish are very hard to catch. Thus in the last 

 ' winter a smack failed to average two boxes of plaice in ten consecutive 

 ' voyages along the neighbouring coast and off Flamborough Head, an 

 ' area which has the reputation of being fairly productive for the season.' 

 He also states that in February 1893, a steam trawler landed one plaice 

 after ten days' fishing, and another one box after eight days'. Mr Holt 

 also gives notes on a new species of ray (R. blanda), hitherto confounded 



* Journal Marine Biological Association, vol. iii. No. 3, p. 169, 1894. 



