88 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 
of prospects of more legitimate success elsewhere. The pecuniary 
results seem to have been sufficient to attract other vessels, steam 
and sailing, to the same grounds, which thus furnished by far the 
greater part of the codling landed up to the last week of February. 
The greatest number landed by any vessel in a single trip was 122 
boxes. <A “voyage” of 23 boxes from the Great Fisher Bank at the 
end of January, one of 48 from ‘ Botney Gut,” and two of 78 and 
104 from the “N. N. E. Hole” in February, assisted to swell the 
total, but the two last grounds are not far from the Yorkshire Hole. 
Of course the contributions from all other grounds, however in- 
significant individually, form collectively a sensible quantity. 
Towards the end of February the chief agents in this matter shifted 
to the (Flamborough) ‘‘ Head ground,” attracted by good catches of 
plaice which were being made there. A diminution in the number 
landed has therefore been noticed, though at first codling were rather 
abundant on that ground also, one vessel bringing in a “ voyage” of 
40 boxes. They have since become less abundant, 13 boxes being 
the average catch of six steam trawlers at the end of the period 
with which my records deal. There is also, I think, a steady 
diminution on other grounds, though a good number still continue to 
be brought in. The fish appear to be scattering, though the decrease 
may be due in part to an involuntary migration to Grimsby. At 
any rate, there can be no doubt that the injury inflicted this winter 
on the cod fishery in general is out of all proportion to the profit 
derived. 
Haddock.—North Sea haddock are divided by Grimsby fishermen 
into large and small, the limit between the two lying at about twelve 
inches. ‘They are always cleaned at sea, and the larger fish become 
either “ kits,” 7. e. suitable for packing in tubs of the same name, or 
“ oibbers,” according to the method in which the offal is removed. 
In “ gibbing ” the viscera are withdrawn through an incision along 
the abdomen, which does not extend as far forward as the isthmus, 
and therefore spoils the external appearance less than the ordinary 
process to which “kit” and small fish are subjected. Whilst the 
larger fish are mostly cured, the ultimate destiny of the small is the 
fried-fish shop. Consequently, whilst boxes of the former may 
contain a considerable admixture of sizes, the latter are always 
packed separately. On this account I have found it convenient to 
adopt the local standard of size in recording the quantity of under- 
sized fish landed. Of course a certain number of immature fish, 
mixed up with others in boxes of “kit,” are excluded, but I do not 
see that it is possible to recover the exact or even approximate 
numbers. It must therefore be remembered that while all the fish 
included in the figures given below are short of the provisional 
