68 
Shields in November and December, it would appear that the 
shoals landed at Mallaig indicate a shoaling of recovering spents 
from autumn spawners for the grounds of the west coast of Scot- 
land. These grounds are frequented at this time of the year 
chiefly by full fish about to become spring spawners. No data 
of a similar nature have been obtained for the North Sea. 
In September herrings are trawled in the vicinity of the Dogger 
Bank, and during the past two years large quantities have been 
caught on the Fladden Grounds. In a previous report* the opinion 
was expressed that the trawled herrings landed at North Shields 
were autumn spawners, but more complete observations and 
increased experience have convinced the writer that this is not 
a full statement. Spawning fish and spents occur amongst the 
trawled herrings, and in some catches they predominate, but 
many of the trawled herrings landed at North Shields in September 
and October are undoubtedly not autumn spawners. They are 
firm fish, and the state of the gonads points to their being the 
forerunners of the herrings which give the East Anglian herring 
harvest in October and November. Not many catches have been 
seen from the Fladden Grounds, but those observed have proved 
to be very like the catches made in the vicinity of the Dogger Bank. 
From this it appears that the grounds fished by trawlers are fre- 
quented not only by autumn spawners but also by immense 
numbers of spring spawners which have congregated there after 
their disappearance in the early part of July. 
During the same month, September, shoals of autumn spawners 
are fished off Whitby and Scarborough. On the grounds off 
Grimsby and about the south-western end of the Dogger large 
catches are made by our vessels and Dutch luggers. What the 
state of development of these fish is cannot be stated definitely, 
but from observations made on trawled herrings and the descrip- 
tion of the herrings obtained from fishernxen and curers it would 
appear that most of these herrings are spring spawners with the 
gonads far enough developed to be classified as full fish. 
The fishery from Yarmouth and Lowestoft in October and 
November is one mainly for full fish which are without doubt 
spring spawners. Samples from spawning shoals can be obtained 

* Report, New Series IX.; page 35. 
