402 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 



and live or six Grimsby steam trawlers have been constantly engaged 

 in providing these supplementary records of individual hauls. The 

 number of returns provided by the fishermen during the past year 

 amounts to a total of nearly 7,000, as follows : — 



Smacks ... 1,350 liauls. 

 Steamers ... 5,437 ,, 

 Total 6,787 „ 



Section II.— HYDROGRAPHIC AND PLANKTON WORK 

 IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. 



The quarterly hydrographic cruises required by the International 

 programme were made in the English Channel in August and November 

 1904, and in February and May 1905. The usual routine work was 

 carried out, and in addition current measurements were made with the 

 Ekman-Nansen current-meter on Station 2 (47 miles S.W. of the 

 Eddystone), in 50 fathoms, during the November and following cruises. 



In addition to the observations made on the quarterly cruises, samples 

 of surface water and temperature records have been received every 

 fortnight from four steamers crossing the English Channel — from New- 

 haven to Caen, from Southampton to Havre and St. Malo, and from 

 Plymouth to the Channel Islands and St. Brieuc. These, together with 

 samples obtained from lightships, have made it possible to draw up 

 fortnightly surface charts for the Channel east of the line joining 

 Plymouth to Guernsey. 



Since September 1904, samples have been collected over the North 

 Atlantic between Lat. 20° N. and Lat. 56° N. every noon by the kind- 

 ness of the captains of fifteen of the larger passenger steamers sailing 

 from English and Scotch ports. 



In May 1904, water of 35-o0 7oo S. and over extended up the 

 Channel as far as the Isle of Wigiit. During the summer the salinity 

 gradually fell, and in July the highest value found on the Plymouth- 

 Guernsey line was 35-25 "j^^ S., which in August had diminished to 

 3500 7o„ S. During the cruise in this month, surface water as high 

 as 35-40 7ooS. was only found at one place — near Ushant, but this high- 

 salinity water extended west as an undercurrent to Parson's Bank, and 

 thence north nearly to mid-Channel. 



The salinity remained low, with only slight variations, until the 

 first week in October, when water of 35-30 7oo S. was found for a short 

 time between Plymouth and Guernsey. A decline then set in until 



