18 



The herrings taken off the Northumberland coast from June 

 to August varied in size from 19 to 30 cm., the greater part of them 

 being fish from 23 to 25 cm. long, and differing little from those 

 of 1913. In August, the samples contained slightly smaller fish 

 than those of the previous year, but it will be seen later that this 

 may be due in some part to the locality where the samples were 

 captured. 



Samj)le 11 consisted of fairly large herrings, the highest numbers 

 obtaining from 25 to 27 cm. 



The trawl caught herrings were larger than those from the 

 Northumberland coast, and as in 1913 the greater part of them 

 were from 24 to 28 cm. in length. In this respect they agree 

 somewhat with sample 11, but a consideration of the age composi- 

 tion of the samples will show that they belong to a different shoal. 



Age. — For the purpose of comparison as to age composition, 

 the samples can be grouped according to the regions where captured, 

 which are 100 miles east of the Tjnie, the Northumberland coast, 

 the Yorkshire coast off Whitby (sample 11), and the Yorkshire 

 coast trawled herring ground. The difference between the age 

 composition of the samples from these regions and where possible 

 a comparison with herrings obtained from the same grounds in 

 1913 are shown graphically in Chart II., and Table II. gives the 

 numbers and percentages of herrings having different numbers of 

 winter rings in each sample. 



The first sample differs from the others in being composed 

 of older herrings, the predominant year groups being those with 

 four and five winter rings, whilst there is a fairly high percentage, 

 17, of fish with six winter rings. The scales showed. that the 

 summer growth had commenced only a short time previous to the 

 capture of the fish, and in some of the older individuals the edge 

 of the scale and the last winter ring practically coincided. This 

 was the case in all with eight or nine winter rings, in 75 per cent, 

 of those with seven, and 15 per cent, of those with six winter 

 rings. 



Sample 2, caught 19th Maj^ had for its predominant year 

 groups fish with two and three winter rings ; there was only 7*7 

 per cent, of the catch not included in these two year groups. 



Samples 3 to 9 inclusive, taken from the 8th of June to the 

 5th of August, and representing the ordinary summer herring of 



