186 
Part III. — Eighth Annual Reiwrt 
numbers of very immature fish. In fact, in this respect it is comparable 
to the special small-meshed net used on board the ' Garland ' in the experi- 
ments on the distribution of immature fish. The Solway shrimp-net, 
however, working close in-shore in a few feet of water, captures young 
plaice, ike, in greater numbers, for they are more abundant in the shallow 
water. It is noteworthy that more young soles (Solea vulgaris) were 
taken than young dabs or flounder, some of them only two and three- 
quarter inches in length. This fish is rare on the East Coast. The young 
plaice numbered 178, or an average of nearly thirty -six per haul, the 
largest being six and a quarter inches and the smallest two inches. 
There is no doubt that when the number of boats and nets used in 
shrimping around the coast is considered, the capture of very small imma- 
ture fish, especially flat-fish, by them must be enormous. There are 
probably at least 2000 trawl-nets used (frequently two and even four by a 
boat), besides a large number of push-nets, ground seines, &c. Mr A. W. 
Maconochie informs me that the shrimp trawls used in the Grimsby district 
have meshes from one inch fit the beam to half an inch at the cod. But 
much smaller meshes are elsewhere used, running from five-eighths to a 
quarter of an inch. The shrimp trawl is kept down a very short time 
(usually from fifteen minutes to a little over an hour), and a number of 
hauls may be made in a day. The immature fish enumerated in the 
above table might all have been easily got in the course of a forenoon. 
If we suppose that each of the trawl-nets around the coast takes an equal 
number, we shall find that the shrimpers capture daily fully 400,000 
immature flat-fish, probably over half a million. It is beyond doubt, at all 
events, that enormous numbers of very immature flat-fish are taken in 
shrimp fishing, and that the great majority are worthless as food. A very 
important question to determine, therefore, is : — Does this mode of fishiug 
involve the destruction as well as the capture of large quantities of 
immature flat-fish 1 This is in reality the crucial question ; and it is to be 
regretted there is very little accurate evidence relating to it. From the 
fact that the trawl-net is kept down so short a time, and that it is almost 
invariably used on a clean bottom, it may be inferred that very few of the 
immature fish are dead when the net is hauled, and that if they were 
at once returned to the sea a large proportion would live. But this is not 
always done; at the best there is often much delay, and with impaired 
vitality the chances of the young fish surviving are greatly lessened. The 
general practice is to riddle the shrimps (the gauge of the riddle varying 
very much in different places) and to return the small shrimps and fish to 
the sea. But the riddling is not always done immediately the net is 
hauled ; often not, indeed, until the shrimps are taken ashore, and some- 
times not until they are boiled. 
In France a committee was recently appointed to investigate the 
relation of shrimp fishing to the capture of immature fish. This com- 
mittee last year reported to the Minister of Marine, on behalf of the 
Consultative Committee on Marine Fisheries.* They state that the 
shrimp trawl destroys great quantities of immature fish, especially flat- 
fish, and that its excessive use at certain parts of the coast has been 
followed by a marked decline in the productiveness of inshore fishing. 
They further state that even although the young fish are returned im- 
mediately to the sea they do not survive their rough usage (froissements) 
and perish. The prohibition of this mode of fishing is strongly urged, and 
the employment of an ingenious trap recommended. This trap, which has 
* Rapport adrcsse" ail Ministre de la Marine au nom clu Comite Consultatif des 
PfcJics maritimcs sur la vulgarisation de Vemploi d'Engins pour la peche de la 
chevrcttc, par MM. Giard et Roussin. 
