340 



Part III. — Thirteenth Annual Report 



7. DENMARK. 



From the Official Report it appears that in the financial year 1893-94 

 the total value of the fish lauded on the West Coast of Denmark, and 

 caught in the North Sea and Skagerrak, was 615,756 kroner, as compared 

 with 552,721 kroner in the previous year. Of this total, herrings 

 yielded only 3,354 kroner, and mackerel, 16,109 kroner; plaice were 

 valued at 116,277 kroner, soles at 689 kroner, turbot 523 and brill 322 

 kroner. The most important were haddock, of the value of 240,741 

 kroner, and cod 69,711 kroner. Lobsters were valued at 53,960 kroner. 

 The fisheries inside the Skaw were valued at 1,622,955 kroner, of which 

 cod yielded 376,941 kroner, mackerel 45,320 kroner, and 'flounders' no 

 less than 1,083,103 kroner. The value of soles was 79,579 kroner, of 

 plaice 10,977 kroner, of herrings 565,430 kroner, of eels 906,229, and of 

 salmon 142,858 kroner. From places within the Scaw 153 cutters and 

 126 open boats, manned by 1146 men, carried on deep-sea fishing in the 

 Kattegat and North Sea, their total catch comprising plaice, soles, turbot, 

 haddock, cod, and mackerel, valued at over one million kroner. In the 

 appendices to the report Dr C. G. Joh. Petersen gives the result of his valu- 

 able investigations on the biology of the flat-fishes of the Danish Coast, 

 and in the decrease of the fishery for this important group. The inquiries 

 which Dr Petersen was directed by the Government to carry on were as 

 follows: — (1) where and to what extent, is any destruction going on of 

 immature and especially unmarketable flat-fishes ; (2) what size-limit 

 ought to be fixed for flat-fishes that may be taken ashore ; (3) whether 

 it is desirable to formulate regulations fixing the sizes of the meshes of 

 the various kinds of fishing gear used for the capture of flat-fishes ; (4) 

 whether it is desirable to forbid trawl-fishery for certain periods, at 

 certain seasons and fishing places ; and finally, how such regulations 

 should be formulated. The inquiries showed that unmarketable flat-fishes 

 are caught to a great extent in the Limfjord, and on the shores of 

 Northern Jutland with seine-nets ; that the size-limit should be for 

 plaice not under 8 inches (to the base of the caudal fin) on the coast 

 generally, 10 inches in the Kattegat, and about 12 inches in the 

 Limfjord; for turbot and brill 12 inches, and for soles 10 inches. Dr 

 Petersen gives a pretty full account of the biology of the flat-fishes found 

 on the Coasts of Denmark, and his descriptions are illustrated by figures 

 and tables. His observations on the spawning and sexual maturity of 

 the various species and on their rate of growth are of special value for 

 comparison with those obtained on this side of the North Sea. Dr 

 Petersen also deals with the causes of the falling off in the flat-fish 

 fisheries and the remedies that ought to be employed ; and also with 

 some of the Zoological characters applicable to the determination of 

 young, post-larval flat-fishes. The publication of the Danish Fishery 

 Association also contains a number of interesting papers, dealing for 

 the most part with the fisheries in their commercial aspects.* 



8. HOLLAND. 



In the official report voluminous statistics are given regarding the 

 Dutch fisheries in 1893.1 The herring fishery in the North Sea yielded 

 25,750 barrels less than in the previous year, but the average price was a 



* Dansk Fiskeriforenings Medlemsblad Aarsberetning for 1894. 



t Verslag van den Staat der Nederlandsche Zeevisscherijen over 1898. 



