60 



Size. — In Table II. will be found particulars relating to the 

 size of the herrings examined. The fish have been grouped to the 

 nearest centimetre, 20' 5 to 21*4 cm. being counted as 21 cm., and 

 the numbers thus obtained are expressed as percentages. 



In the samples from North Sunderland the size varied from 20 

 to 27 cm., the greatest number having a length of from 23 to 25 cm. 

 in June, from 22 to 25 cm. in July, and from 24 to 25 cm. in August. 

 The North Shields samples obtained in August and September 

 contained on the whole larger herrings, the bulk of them being from 

 24 to 25 cm. long, and in this respect like the August samples from 

 North Sunderland, but there were more herrings of 26 cm. and over. 



Sample M which seems to stand by itself with regard to size 

 contained a large number of herrings with two mnter rings. 



The trawled herrings had a similar range in size to those landed 

 at North Shields and captured by drift nets, but on the whole they 

 contained greater numbers of larger fish, the highest percentages 

 obtaining from 24 to 28 cm. Yet some of the samples, those taken 

 towards the end of the herring trawling season and coming from the 

 Dogger Bank region, contained a higher percentage of smaller 

 herrings than any of the drift net samples. At this time the small 

 herrings could be sold at North Shields, and commanded a fair 

 price. 



If the averages be taken for the samples from North Shields 

 the following result is obtained : — 



CENTIMETRES. 



This clearly shows a marked difference between the drift and 

 trawled herrings for size, and to a less extent a difference between 

 the two classes of trawled herrings. The N and samples, the first 

 samples of trawled herrings examined, are more in agreement with 

 the Dogger Bank than the Yorkshire coast trawled herrings, which 

 latter are of greater size. 



