of tine Fishery Board for Scotland. 
201 
IV. — THE CAPTURE AKD DESTRUCTION OF IMMATURE 
SEA FISH. Part II. By Dr T. Wemyss Fulton, F.RS.E., 
Secretary for Scientific Investigations. 
1. Introductory. 
In the Report for last year I described the investigations made by the 
direction of the Fishery Board into the determination of immature fish of 
different species, their distribution in the waters on the east coast, and 
their capture and destruction by different modes of fishing ; and I dis- 
cussed the various plans by whicb this wasteful destruction might be 
lessened.* Since that report was written the subject has assumed greater 
magnitude and importance, both at home and in foreign countries; and 
before describing the further experiments made by the direction of the 
Board, something may be said as to what has been done, or is being done, 
elsewhere. 
In this country the question of the capture and destruction of immature 
fish has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, and at various 
meetings of those interested in fisheries resolutions have been passed 
calHng for interference. At a Conference of representatives of the trawl- 
fishing industry, held in London in 1888, it was resolved : — ' 1. That we 
' find a large and distressing diminution in the North Sea of soles, turbot, 
' plaice, and all flat-fish, and view with alarm the future, unless some 
' steps are immediately taken to prohibit the catching of immature fish. 
' 2. That the Conference petition Her Majesty's Government, urging them 
' to enter into negotiations with all Continental Governments to establish 
' an international law to prohibit the wilful catching of immature fish, 
' and to make it unlawful to offer such immature fish for sale.' At a Con- 
ference of the representatives of the s^ja-fishing industry of the United 
Kingdom, held in London in 1889, under the auspices of the National 
Sea Fisheries Protection Association, it was resolved to adjourn the subject 
in order to give time for further inquiry, to watch the operation of the 
Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1888, and of the Danish fishery law, and 
to enable the results of observations and experiments then proceeding to 
be obtained. A committee was appointed at this Conference, which, later 
in the year, resolved : — ' That the President do ask the Government to 
* invite various foreign maritime powers to send delegates to meet in 
' conference to examine the grounds of alarm felt as to the eff'ect upon the 
* fisheries of the taking and sale of immature fish.' IMeantime the traw- 
lers on the East Coast had taken up the subject themselves. At a Con- 
ference of the trawl-fishing industry of the east coast ports, held in Hull 
in the spring of last year, it was resolved, in view * of the enormous loss 
* which the trade has sustained year by year through the wholesale capture 
' and destruction of immature and inedible fish,' to take united measures 
to put a stop to the evil, and the delegates assembled agreed, for them- 
selves and on behalf of the various companies, corporations, fleets, and 
associations which they represented, to abstain during the ensuing summer 
from fishing on the following grounds where immature fish are caught in 
abundance, viz., the area between lat. 53° 50' and 56° N., bounded by the 
German and Danish coasts on the east, and on the west by an imaginary 
line coincident with longitude 7^ 30'. This Conference further resolved 
* The Distribution of Immature Sea Fish, and their Capture 1>y various Modes 
of Fishing, Eighth Annual Report of the Hslicry Board for Scotland, Fart HI. pp. 
157-210, 1890. 
