84 
pi 
EI 
; 
ill 
C 
pi 
if 
$ 
.. 
It may be asked if this be the case, why has there been such a 
falling off during the past two years '? I can only reply that the 
fishermen have experienced an exactly similar diminution in the 
catches of plaice, and that with no accompanying decline in the 
number of boats or men. 
The byelaw which was passed the year before the experiments 
commenced, has, therefore, been of some degree of benefit to the 
district, and the experiments may be said, furthermore, to prove 
that the Northumberland inshore area is not unimportant as a 
rearing ground for plaice and dabs. 
It may be said also that the byelaw gives a passing protection to 
such fish as migrate temporarily within the district. 
It may be inferred, moreover, that other species, e.g., cod and 
whiting, which pass a great part of their lives in the inshore waters, 
benefit by the protection which it has been the purpose of the byelaw 
to give. 
The Committee have from time to time, recognising the decline 
in the inshore white fisheries, discussed the question whether any- 
thing further could be done to improve them. One result was an 
attempt to persuade trawl fishermen to artificially fertilize the ova of 
ripe fish during the spawning season. Some little success was 
obtained, but it was found impossible to get more than one or two of 
the skippers of trawlers to carry the method into practice, and the 
work on board a trawler it must be admitted leaves little time for 
doing so. 
The question of artifically hatching the ova of the more impor- 
tant forms has also been raised, — see previous reports. For reasons 
which were given last year with reference to lobster hatching, and 
which have been set forth when the present question has been dis- 
cussed in previous reports, it is not possible to admit that the setting 
free of artificially hatched larv.'D in the sea would necessarily be 
productive of an increase in number of adult fish. At the same 
time experiments on as large a scale as possible are desirable to 
prove if it is possible to rear especially the rare and more valuable 
forms to a size when they could with more confidence be freed in care- 
fully chosen localities, and even to see if they could be altogether 
reared in confined areas. The pond at Amble, to which reference is 
made on page 106, offers an opportunity to test this in our own 
district. But as the lobster fishing of the district is of paramount 
importance, the experiments when they are made should apply 
especially and primarily to that species. 
