56 THE IMPOVKKISIIMKNT OF THE SEA. 



must be attributed largely to the favourable effects of the hot spring 

 and summer in the manner suggested above. The reports of the 

 collectors of fishery statistics at Lowestoft and Eamsgate, and the 

 returns made to the Board of Trade by the Sea Fisheries Committees, 

 strongly corroborate this view (see Eeport of the Inspectors). 



In any case, the abnormal increase of flat fishes in 1893 is sufficient 

 in itself to show that exceptional influences were at work in 1893 

 tending towards an increase in the trawlers' captures. Consequently 

 the temporary cessation in the fall of the average catches shown by 

 my table for this year is in accord with the independent evidence from 

 other sources, and to that extent confirms the accuracy of my results. 



An explanation of a similar kind, though differing in details, appears 

 to me to account for the maintenance of the average catches at about 

 the same figure during the next two years. The catches of plaice and 

 brill were about the same in 1894 as in 1893, and the catches of soles 

 and turbot still further increased. The weather was favourable for 

 smacks ; more vessels visited the Iceland grounds ; and the good effects 

 of the warmth of the previous year on the reproduction, food-supply, 

 and rate of growth of fishes were not yet exhausted. Haddocks, the 

 young stages of which had been exceptionally abundant* during the 

 previous year, were taken this year of larger size and in abnormal 

 quantities. The increase of haddocks in 1894 amounted to 200,000 cwts. ; 

 in 1893 it was only 50,000 cwts.; in 1892, 150,000 cwts.; in 1891, 

 the same. This is but an illustration of a phenomenon well known to 

 fishermen, that an exceptional abundance of young fish in one season 

 is usually followed by larger catches of the same species in the following 

 year ; but the importance of the fact in this case is in the evidence it 

 affords of the far-reaching effects of the exceptionally favourable season 

 of 1893. 



In 1895 the abundance of haddocks was still maintained, the increase 

 over 1894 amounting to 250,000 cwts., a result which, though partly 

 attributable to the introduction of the otter trawl, was principally a con- 

 sequence of the same climatic cause as the increase in 1894. Since 1895 

 the annual increments in the catch of haddocks have markedly dimin- 

 ished in spite of the otter trawl and its great catching power, the annual 

 changes having been an increase of 110,000 cwts. in 1896, a decrease of 

 20,000 cwts. in 1897, and an increase of 00,000 cwts. in 1898. 



Turning now to the estimated average catches for the bottom fisheries 

 of the South and West Coasts, two remarkable differences are presented 

 between the results of these fisheries and those of the East Coast. The 

 catches are much less in amount, and are remarkably constant through- 

 out the period. Nevertheless it is noteworthy that a slight fall in the 



• Foicrteenth Report of the .':>cottish Fishery Board, p. 145 ; Mcintosh, Resources, p. 194. 



