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Part III — Ninth Annual Report 
that the term ' immature fish ' should be applied as follows : — lemon soles, 
turbot, brill, and plaice under 12 inches, and common soles under 10 
inches, the measurements to be made from the end of the nose to the 
end of the tail ; and that Parliament should be asked to impose restric- 
tions upon the sale of immature fish as so defined. 
As a result of the resolution of the committee above referred to, an 
International Conference to consider the question of the capture and sale 
of immature fish was convened in London last July, under the auspices of 
the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association and the presidency of 
Sir Edward Birkbeck, Bart., M.P. Delegates were present from Belgium, 
Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United 
Kingdom, and the following resolutions were passed:— '1. That this 
' Conference considers it desirable that an Official International Confer- 
' ence of European maritime powers should be held with the view of 
' concluding a Convention for the prohibition of the landing and sale of 
' undersized fiat-fish within their respective jurisdictions.' ' 2. That the 
' National Sea Fisheries Protection Association be requested to formulate 
' a set of questions, with a view to obtaining scientific and statistical 
' information in relation to undersized fish, and forward it to each dele- 
' gate, in order that he ma}' submit it to his Government for adoption.' 
Some of the Local Fisheries Committees of the Sea Fisheries Districts 
in process of formation along the English Coast, under the Sea Fisheries 
Regulation Act, 1888, have passed bye-laws regulating the mesh of the 
nets used in certain modes of fishing, and have also prohibited the landing 
or sale of various fish under a certain size. Oa the Continent, in 
Denmark, Italy, and France, there are at the present time enactments in 
force prohibiting the landing or sale of immature individuals of certain 
sea fish.* In Holland (where Dr Hoek is making an investigation of 
the subject) it has been proposed that a law should be passed prohibiting 
fishing with nets having meshes so small that immature fish cannot escape, 
and making it compulsory to return all immature fish to the sea {vide p. 
413) • and in Belgium the Association Maritime have passed a resolution 
to the same efi'ect, and recommending that the vessel employed in fishery 
superintendence on the Belgian coast should be employed to carry on 
* experiments similar to those made by the " Garland " on the coasts of 
'Scotland' {vide p. 417.) 
2. The Retention of Vitality of Trawl-caught Fish, and their 
Chance of Survival if replaced in the Sea. 
This question, so important from the point of view of regulation, 
has been carefully investigated during the past year. 
The experiments on board the ' Garland ' were carried on at intervals 
during nine months, the trawl being used on grounds of very different 
character, and for periods varying from half an hour to seven hours. 
The depth of water varied from about 3 fathoms to over 30 fathoms, 
and the distance from shore from 1 to about 10 miles. In some cases 
the bottom consisted of mud, in other cases of clean sand, muddy sand, 
shells, (fee, certain places being selected, in order specially to test th 
influence of the kind of bottom on the vitality of the fish caught. 
Seventy-eight hauls of the trawl net were made ; the number of food- 
fishes caught (exclusive of skates and rays) was 13,328, and the condition 
* Vide p. 411 of the present Report, and pp. 374, 375, Part III., Eighth Annual 
Report. 
