198 
Part III. — Eighth Annual Report 
1. That the destruction of all immature fish which are not saleable 
should be prevented, in all cases possible. 
In the case of shrimp fishing, and the fishing by fixed engines along 
the shore, an inquiry should be made as to (a) the amounts and 
proportions of the various kinds of immature fish captured ; (b) 
as to the length of time shrimp-nets may be down without the 
vitality of the young flat-fish taken in them being seriously 
impaired ; (c) as to the length of time which may be allowed to 
elapse between the removal of the young fiat-fish from the sea, 
and their being returned to it vigorous enough to live. I am 
convinced that annually many millions of the young of valuable 
flat-fishes are wastefully destroyed by shrimp-nets along the 
shore ; and that it is quite possible to devise a remedy without 
imposing hardship on the shrimp fishers. 
Ordinary beam-trawl nets should possess a mesh which is large 
enough to allow all flat-fish under six inches in length to escape. 
2. That where it can be shown that immature flat-fish of the valuable 
kinds have a special or localised distribution, apart from the adults, or 
where their preponderance is excessive, beam tiawling should be partially 
or entirely prohibited in such nursery areas, unless it can be shown that 
the disadvantages are greater than the advantages. 
As yet the only authenticated case of such nurseries being fairly well 
defined occurs with plaice, the young of which is practically 
confined to the territorial waters. 
3. That, from the biological point of view, the killing cf all turbot 
under eighteen inches; brill under sixteen inches; plaice under twelve 
inches ; witch soles under twelve inches ; lemon soles under eight inches, 
and all immature black or English soles, should if possible be prevented. 
And that no measures should be taken to protect the young of the 
almost valueless and largely competing dabs.* 
The difficulty is to carry out such a principle in practice. The sale 
of the fish may be prevented, but not their capture, and merely 
to prohibit their sale would be worse than useless. It cannot 
be carried out by dealing with the mesh of the trawl-net alone. 
Experiments should be first made to determine the degree of 
vitality of the various kinds of fish under the sizes named, 
after the net has been down for a varying number of hours ; 
and also the length of time the fish can lie on deck and live 
when returned to the sea. All that is required is a large tub of 
sea-water on board, f Should it be clearly demonstrated that 
the immature fish named would live when returned to the sea 
after the lapse of a time approximate to what now occurs in the 
practice of beam trawling, the enforcement of a regulation 
embodying the above principle would be highly serviceable. 
Certain practical difficulties could be overcome with a little care. 
Any regulations should be international. 
4. In declining fisheries the mere protection of immature individuals 
has not been effective ; it has been found necessary to supplement restric- 
tion by artificial cultivation. 
* It will be seen from my Notes on Contemporary Fishery Investigations 
(p. 359), that the sale of young individuals of certain sea fish has been interdicted 
in Italy since 1877, and in Denmark since 1888; and that the subject is engaging close 
attention in Holland, France, Belgium; and Spain. The sizes fixed upon in Denmark 
and Italy, however, like the sizes adopted in the Act of George I., are more or less 
arbitrary, and do not in reality agree with the distinction between mature and 
immature individuals. 
t Such experiments are now being arranged for on board the 1 Garland. ' 
