334 



Part III. — Thirteenth Annual Report 



* the greater part of its fish population goes, of neighbouring seas, but having 

 ' its inshore and offshore grounds interdependent and intimately connected 

 ' with one another, by the successive stages and migrations in the life- 

 1 histories of the food-fishes.' The inference drawn is that 1 the whole of 

 1 the Irish Sea ought to be under the jurisdiction of one authority, so 

 ' that fish may be protected, when necessary, in any part of it ; so that 



* the same bye-laws may, if required, apply to Lancashire, Anglesey, and 

 ' the Isle of Man ; and so that, to take a particular case, the sole may be 

 1 protected when spawning in the deep water of the offshore grounds.' 

 It is pointed out that the 3-mile limit 1 is an absurdity from the fishery 

 ' point of view.' The spawning-grounds of the sole in the district are 

 tracts of deep water, 20 to 25 fathoms, lying off the east of the Isle of 

 Man, or in the central part of the Irish Sea ; and ' the supply of the 

 ' inshore nurseries depends upon the preservation of the offshore spawning- 

 ' grounds.' It is stated that in addition to the protection of the spawning 

 areas — at present impossible — sea-fish culture should be resorted to in 

 order to increase the supply of young fishes in the inshore nurseries. 

 Arguments are given in this Report for the selection of Port Erin, in the 

 Isle of Man, as the site for the hatchery which the Lancashire Sea 

 Fisheries Committee have decided to establish, the other site proposed 

 being at Piel Island, in the Barrow Channel ; and the subject is con- 

 cluded as follows : — ' In concluding this section of the Report, we desire 



* to re-state what we regard as one of the most fundamental points which 

 ' can come before the consideration of a Sea Fisheries Committee, namely, 

 ' that there are two methods by which the decadence of a fishery may be 

 ' checked (1), by killing fewer undersized fish, and (2), by adding to the 

 ' total number of fish living in the district. Consequently it is most 

 1 desirable and important that Sea Fisheries Committees all round the 

 1 coast should, in addition to any restrictive legislation that may be 



* required, undertake directly productive action, such as sea-fish hatching 

 ■ and rearing and aquiculture in general.' The Report also contains 

 information regarding the food and spawning of the mussel, cockle, and 

 shrimp ; the destruction of young fishes by shrimpers ; and the experi- 

 ments carried out by Mr Dawson with a special net, with the view of 

 showing how the destruction might be diminished. This net is called 

 the ' Bar shank net ' in contradistinction to the ordinary shank-net, and 

 while it captures about the same quantity of shrimps, it takes consider- 

 ably smaller quantities of immature fish. A preliminary account is also 

 given of experiments with drift bottles which were made in order to 

 ascertain the surface currents in the district, and their influence in 

 transporting floating organisms, and fish eggs and larva, similar to those 

 described in the present Report (p. 153), which were begun somewhat 

 earlier than those off the Lancashire coast. One of the bottles was 

 carried a distance of 180 miles — from Liverpool to Saltcoats, Ayrshire, — 

 and nearly fifteen per cent of those found were recovered on the coast 

 of Ireland. 



The last quarterly Report of the superintendent of the Lancashire Sea 

 Fisheries * contains much information regarding the fisheries of the 

 district. Young plaice and dabs have increased at some parts of the 

 district, which is attributed to the compulsory use of a large mesh in 

 trawl-nets, and the preserving of certain grounds during the last four 

 years. Power to raise £unds to defray the cost of erecting and main- 

 taining a hatchery has been sanctioned by the Board of Trade, the cost of 

 plant and building not to exceed £1000, and the maintenance not to 

 exceed <£500 ; the site for the hatchery has not yet been decided. 



* Lancashire Sea Fisheries. Superintendent's Report for the Quarter ending June 

 30th, 1895. 



