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Part III. — Eighth Annual Report 
2. Comparatively few immature flat-fish are caught by hook and line 
and those are mainly the commoner and less valuable kinds. 
4. Stow-net or Bag-net Fishing. 
This method of fishing is largely practised in estuaries for whitebait, 
sprats, sparling, shrimps, &c, and undoubtedly captures large quantities of 
immature fish. Whitebait consists in Scotland almost entirely of young 
sprats and herrings, the proportions varying at different seasons. From the 
great size of the net and the small mesh, almost everything that is carried 
into it by the current is retained. The most elaborate inquiry into the 
capture of young fish by the bag-net was made a few years ago by Mr 
Bottemanne and Dr P. P. C. Hoek, the scientific adviser on fisheries to 
the Dutch Government.* In certain parts of Holland bag-net fishing is 
extensively carried on, the nets being much larger than the stow-net used 
on the Thames. The fish which were captured by these nets during Dr 
Iloek's inquiry, included flounder, plaice, sole, herring, sprat, shad, eel, 
lamprey, sparling, dace, perch, &c, but no young whitings, cod, or 
haddocks were taken, owing apparently to the brackishness of the water. 
The contents of the net were carefully examined on eighty occasions, 
between March 188G and June 1887. The very small unsaleable fishes 
consisted mostly of young shad, herring, sprat, eels, gobies, &c. ; but 
large numbers of very small flounders were captured. In one shot in 
March, these small unsaleable flounders numbered between 7000 and 8000. 
Few young plaice were taken. In June there was a 1 handful,' the 
largest measuring 80 millimetres in length. A few young soles were 
also caught in June ; but from the brackish nature of the water the two 
latter fish are very scarce. Nearly all the fish, and all the young fish, 
are dead when the net is hauled. In Holland, and also in Germany,! 
bag-net fishing is largely resorted to for catching a mixture of all sorts of 
young fish (' nest,' ' grus '). They are used for bait for eels, and also to 
feed hens, ducks, and swine, r The conclusion of the Dutch report above 
referred to is that the bag-net fishing is prejudicial to the abundance of 
fish in the river; but that from the condition of the river and its bank 
it is impossible to catch the fish by other engines. It is not proposed to 
prohibit the fishing, but to limit the number of nets (which can easily be 
done, as the water is rented in lots from Government), and to strictly 
enforce the close time from 1st April to 1st June. Dr Hoek looks upon 
the Zuider Zee as a great spawning place for certain fish, and as a great 
nursery for the young ; and he aims at the ideal of abolishing all modes 
of fishing which cause great destruction of immature fish. 
While bag-net fishing undoubtedly involves the capture of immature 
fish in immense quantites, it would appear that these are not to any large 
extent the young of cod, haddock, whiting, or flat-fish, with the exception 
of flounders in certain places. 
5. Weirs and Ground Seines, &c. 
Fixed nets or weirs on the shore — salmon stake-nets, &c, and the 
ground seine, are all said to be very destructive to young fish. The 
evidence given before the various Royal Commissions shows that large 
numbers are thus taken ; but no scientific inquiry has been made into 
the subject. Professor M 'In tosh mentions that young turbot have been 
captured in the salmon stake-nets at St Andrews. 
* Rapport over Arikerkuil- en Staalboomen-Visscherij op het Hollandsch Diep en 
Haringvliet, Lieden, 1888. 
t Prof. Metzger. Ueber Steerthamenfischerei in der Elbe, Weser und Ems, op. cit., 
p. 257. 
