78 THE SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE 



fisMng villages in most districts along the east coast, who furnish 

 details regarding the daily catch, the number of boats fishing, the 

 relative size of the fish, whether got in the inshore or offshore 

 waters, the bait used, the condition of the weather, &c. Above 

 forty East Coast fishermen have also been supplied with books, and 

 keep records of their daily catches, with particulars as to state of 

 weather and tide, depth, bait, quality and size of of fish, &c., and 

 by supplying them with charts divided into areas of square miles it 

 will be possible to localise with greater precision the most productive 

 localities. These statistics are given in a large number of Tables,* 

 and have been discussed in last year's Report. f 



Another point which requires notice is the study of the appliances 

 used in fishing, especially in relation to the capture of immature 

 fish. Experiments are at present being carried on with specially 

 devised trawls with the object of lessening the great destruction of 

 young fish by this mode of fishing. Professor Ewart published a 

 paper last year giving the results of his investigations into the kinds 

 of herring nets used around the Scottish coast, and showing how, 

 by the substitution of light cotton nets for the old hempen ones, 

 and the diminution in the size of the mesh, combined with the 

 earlier commencement of the herring fishing and the greater preva- 

 lence of surface fishing, a vastly greater proportion of young herrings 

 are now captured than was previously the case. Other general 

 questions regarding the sprat and herring fisheries are considered 

 in several of the papers referred to below. 



The question of bait is one of increasing importance to Scottish 

 fishermen from the growing scarcity of supplies. The common 

 mussel is the chief bait used, and it has been shownj that the East 

 Coast line fishermen are put to great expense in order to procure the 

 requisite supplies, and that the total yield of Scotch mussels is rapidly 

 diminishing. The cultivation of mussels is recommended, and expe- 

 riments have been begun, under the direction of Professor Ewart, 

 with this object in view. 



The condition of the shore fisheries is also demanding attention. 

 In a paper in last year's Report§ on the Scottish Lobster Fishery 

 it is shown by Professor Ewart and the writer, that the numbers 

 of this crustacean are rapidly diminishing, and that there is a corre- 

 sponding reduction in the average size of those taken. 



The best modes of presei'ving fish have been made the subjects 

 of exhaustive investigation by Pi'ofessor Ewart, but as this is closely 



* Fifth Report, p. 82, et seq., 1887. 



t Sixth Report, pp. 95—188, 1888. 



X The Scottish Mussel Fishery. J. C. Ewart. Edin., 1888. 



§ Sixth Report, Part iii, p. 189. 



