368 RECENT REPORTS OF FISHERY AUTHORITIES. 



the Garland that in the autumn of 1889 a vast shoal of young whiting 

 — computed after careful observations to number over 200,000,000 — • 

 was present in the Firth of Forth. They were too small to be caught 

 that year in the ordinary net used in the trawling experiments, and the 

 average for that year was not large. But in 1890 the average number 

 rose in the closed waters of the Forth from lo'G to 56'9, and in 

 the open waters from 19'9 to 121"G; and the fishermen in the district 

 caught very nearly double the quantity of whitings that they did in 

 1889. This increase in the abundance of whitings was local, and may 

 have been due to a combination of causes. Another example was the 

 sudden and extraordinary abundance of small haddocks all along the 

 east coast of Scotland in 1893. In the Firth of Forth the average 

 sprang up from 221 to 118-8 in the closed waters (over 1000 being 

 sometimes taken in a haul), and in the open waters from 42'4 to 176'3 ; 

 and in the closed waters of St. Andrews Bay the average rose from I'O 

 to 23'8, and in the open area from 8*8 to 43"8. 



" These instances will suffice to show how sudden and marked 

 the natural fluctuations may be, and how they tend to obscure the 

 influence of a minor though constant factor, such as a mode of fishing. 

 The answer to the question as to how long it is necessary to continue 

 the observations in the Firth of Forth and St. Andrews Bay depends to 

 a large extent upon the continuity of the results underlying the varia- 

 tions, as determined by a comparison of the averages in the first and 

 second parts of the period during which they have been carried on. 

 From the statistical analysis given in the foregoing pages, and sum- 

 marised below, it appears to be fairly well proved that there has been 

 a diminution of the more important flat-fishes in the closed waters, 

 instead of an increase, as was anticipated ; and that this may probably 

 be traced to the influence of beam-trawling in the open waters where 

 the fishes spawn; but with regard to round-fishes, which are more 

 numerous and migratory, the same conclusion cannot at present be 

 drawn. In my opinion, after full consideration of the question, the best 

 course is in the meantime to suspend the trawling experiments in the 

 Firth of Forth and St. Andrews Bay, and to carry them on systematic- 

 ally in the Firth of Clyde and the Moray Firth. Both of these areas 

 contain within the closed limits extensive spawning grounds (which are 

 absent from the Firth of Forth and St, Andrews Bay) that are fre- 

 quented by successive shoals of the food-fishes at the spawning time ; 

 and it is of great importance to ascertain the effect of the protection of 

 these spawning places. 



"The statistics of the ten years' observations in the Firth of Forth 

 and St. Andrews Bay point to the following conclusions : — 



" 1. No very marked change has taken place in the abundance of the 



