36 
A PROPOSED CLOSE SEASON FOR CRABS. 
In the report for 1904 a diagram and figures were given which 
showed that during the months October to December, some 70 to 
80 per cent, of the crabs caught in the district were in a soft or : 
white condition. At the time statistics for six years were available, 
contributed by two fishermen, John Douglas and George Fawcus. 
Since the publication of the report they have been confirmed by 
returns of a similar nature. 
It is during these months, therefore, that the vast majority of 
the crabs are in an unsaleable condition from either actually being 
soft or being in the process of becoming hard, when they are known 
as white crabs. The condition is rapidly recovered from towards 
the end of the year and the beginning of January, and up to 
September very few soft crabs are met with. During that month 
the onset of the annual casting season is once more evidenced by 
the increasing number of soft crabs caught by the fishermen. In 
September and October at least, as has been evident from the 
trawling experiments for a number of years, the soft crabs are 
found to a large extent on soft ground. This was known to Mr. 
Fawcus, for he wrote with reference to the large number of soft 
crabs caught by him in 1.905 ‘(v. Report for 1905, p. 87), “if all the 
crab pots had been on ilie smooth bottom I could have doubled the 
number of white crabs. I counted 28 white crabs in one crab 
pot on the smooth bottom.” 
A comparison was made at the same time of the statistics 
furnished by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for the North- 
umberland and the two adjoining districts. The North-Eastern 
Committee (to the south) passed in 1896 a by-law giving a close 
time from September 1st to January 31st each year, thus including 
the months in question. This by-law remained in force until 
1906, when it was repealed. During this period of ten years in the 
Northumberland district, where the crabs have not been protected, 
the autumn and winter fishing has, especially in the northern half 
of the area, been prosecuted with increasing energy from season to 
season. It cannot be said to what extent this is true for the 
Eyemouth district (to the north), but Williamson’s results for 
Dunbar at all events show that the casting season is practically 
identical with that of Northumberland. The Eyemouth district is 
also unprotected by a close time. 
