10 
Part III. — Ninth Aimual Report 
in trawls to the sea, for the reason that they were likely to perish, 
and that any regulations providing for the enforcement of such 
procedure would be worse than useless, inasmuch as they would 
involve additional labour on the part of trawl-fishermen, and the 
loss of a small but appreciable source of food-supply. Two mem- 
bers of the Committee on French Fisheries (MM. Giard and 
Eoussin), who were requested by the French Minister of Marine to 
inquire into the capture and destruction of immature fish by 
shrimp-trawls along the French coasts, recently reported that great 
quantities of immature fish were destroyed by* such means, and 
that they perished when returned to the sea. These conclusions, 
which do not appear to have been founded upon experimental 
observations, have been extensively quoted on the Continent in 
relation to fishery regulations, buD they do not agree with the 
experiments made on board the ' Garlaad.' Dr Fulton points out 
that in the great majority of cases immature fish captured in trawl- 
nets do survive when returned to the water, and that most of the 
flat-fish are liviug when landed on deck. The proportion of those 
which perish in the trawl varies greatly, according to (1) the time 
the trawl is down, (2) the nature of the bottom, and (3) the kind of 
fish. Eound-fish, and very specially whitings and gurnards, are 
most liable to succumb ; but flat-fish are much more tenacious of 
life, as was previously shown by Professor M'Intosh, F.R.S., when 
conducting the trawling experiments, at the request of the last 
Royal Commission on Trawling. On a sandy bottom few fish, and 
scarcely a single flat-fish, perish, even when the trawl has been 
down for seven hours. On a muddy bottom the fatality is much 
greater, but flat-fish rarely succumb under four hours. Id the case 
of shrimp-trawling, which certainly causes the capture of immense 
multitudes of immature fish, the latter were all alive and vigorous 
when the net was hauled, and survived when returned to sea-water 
without delay, as is done by the shrimp fishermen on the S )lway. 
These conclusions are of special significance in relation to regula- 
tions to prevent the destruction of immature fish. As is shown in 
the Section on the Fisheries of Foreign States, there is a general 
complaint as to the diminution of the fish-supply along the whole 
of the North Sea coasts — namely, of Norway, Denmark, Germany, 
Holland, Belgium, France, and England. In Denmark and France, 
as in Italy, statutory regulations prohibiting the sale of immature 
fish are at present in force. In Holland, careful scientific investiga- 
tions are being made into the question by Dr Hoek on behalf of 
the Government ; and at the Annual Fishery Conference, held the 
other day in that country, a resolution was submitted requesting 
that measures should be taken to prevent the destruction of immature 
fish. In Belgium also the Maritime Association have adopted a 
resolution to the same effect, and recommend that the fishery 
cruiser should be equipped to undertake investigations similar to 
those made by the ' Garland ' on the coasts of Scotland. On the 
offshore grounds in the North Sea the diminution of prime fish has 
also been serious, as is shown by the following official statistics 
of the quantities landed on the east coast of England in recent 
years : — ^ 
