37 



ma}^ be of use in determining differences between shoals which 

 have different spawning times. 



In last year's Report it was stated there were good reasons 

 for holding that the summer feeding shoals off the Northumberland 

 Coast supplied spring spawning shoals in the Firth of Forth. From 

 the Avork of last year, the Firth of Forth is an area which receives 

 more than one shoal of herrings as spring spawners, and they come 

 from different summer feeding shoals. The best material for 

 showing the presence of different herrings consists of fish with 

 four winter rings. Although the number of these fish was small 

 in the sample of 22nd January there is considerable difference 

 between them and fish of the same age in the February and March 

 samples. This is best seen in the third year growth, which is here 

 given : — 



NUMBERS AT CENTIMETRES. 



Date. 20 21 22 23 



22/1/20 ... — 2 .T 5 



17/2/20 ... 1 3 4 .'1 



10/3/20 ... 2 5 4 7 



The fish in the January sample, considering the growth the}^ 

 have made, may have come from any of the shoals to the south 

 of the Firth of Forth or may have spent their lives in the Firth, 

 but there is no evidence of fish with such a large third year growth 

 as those found in the February and March samples being present 

 in any of the shoals south of the Firth of Forth, with the excei^tion 

 of a small number in the North Shields samples. These large grown 

 fish are more like the larger fish found in the Peterhead samples 

 of July and September. Fish with six winter rings in the February 

 sample also agree more with the Peterhead sample of September 

 than they do with more southern fish, and are probabl}^ also 

 northern in origin. They are, as will be seen from the tables, 

 fish with a larger growth for their age than the North Shields 

 trawled, Scarborough or Yarmouth herrings. 



The Firth of Forth is now the only area on the east coast 

 giving a fishing for full herrings in spring. No sample of spring 

 herrings from Yarmouth or Lowestoft has been examined, but all 

 the fish from the Yarmouth spring fishery seen on North Shields 

 Fish Quay have been spent fish, and the information obtained from 



