127 



referred to. The advantages of the otter-trawl, introduced about 

 fifteen years ago, were pointed out. The size of a beam -trawl is 

 limited by the length of the boat ; the length of the beam cannot 

 exceed the length of the boat, and in practice a 60-foot beam is 

 the limit of safety and efficiency. In the otter-trawl the mouth 

 is kept open, not by a beam, as in the first case, but by the action 

 of two large boards, one attached to each side of the mouth, 

 vertically, in such a manner that they diverge when the net 

 is dragged through the water. The otter-trawl can be worked 

 with efficiency up to a ^vidth of 150 to 180 feet across the mouth, 

 thus trebling the fishing area of the net as compared with the 

 beam-trawl, and moreover it can be used in deeper water 

 than the latter. The trawls are used on the Golclseeker for 

 the purpose of counting, measuring, sexing, and in some cases 

 marking, the fish caught. A fish selected to be marked is taken 

 as quickly as possible after the trawl comes in, is placed on a 

 board, measured, and a numbered button is fixed with silver wire 

 through a part of the body where it will not hurt or inconvenience 

 the fish, and, a record having been completed, it is thrown over- 

 board, with an average lapse of about three-quarters of a minute 

 after first leaving the water. As the button is worth 2s. Qd. in 

 the form of a reward paid to the finder when the fish is caught 

 in the ordinary way, a large number of these are recovered, and 

 show that the average migration of flat fish (only such, as a rule, 

 are marked) does not usually exceed 60 miles. 



Subsequently the lecturer passed to his personal experiences 

 on board the Goldseeker during several voyages of the ship, and 

 showed many photographs illustrating the coast and sea life 

 around the Orkneys and Shetlands. From the Shetlands the 

 cruise was extended to the lonelv and little- visited Faroe Islands, 

 on the outer fringe of Europe, a number of views, illustrating 

 their grand scenery and interesting inhabitants, being thrown on 

 the screen. Mr. Earland then went on to describe the methods 

 adopted in the whale " fisheries," one of the chief industries of 

 the Faroe Islands, which also furnishes the staple food of the 

 islanders during winter. The particular whale hunted is the 

 grindhval, or pilot whale {Glohicephalns melas), known in 

 Shetland as the " caa'ing whale,'' or "black fish." This is one 

 of the toothed whales, and has a maximum length of about 22 ft. 

 It gathers in schools of about 600 in number. Each whale 



