REMARKS ON TRAWLING. 325 
If the returns of round, flat, and other fishes landed, irrespective 
of herrings, sprats, sparlings, and mackerel, which do not pro- 
minently bear on the present question, be considered, it is found 
that in 1892* the liners brought to shore 1,229,809 ewts. of round 
fishes, viz. cod, ling, torsk, saithe, whiting, haddock, and conger, 
which realised, at 8s. per cwt., £516,524; the trawlers landed 
261,200 ewts. at 10s. 11d., or £143,062 ; the liners produced 100,228 
ewts. of flat-fishes, viz. flounders, plaice, brill, skate, halibut, lemon- 
dabs, and turbot, at 10s. 9d.=£53,973; the trawlers, 77,649 cwts. 
of flat-fishes at 25s. 4d.=£98,295; while of other kinds of fishes, 
which include hake, bream, gurnard, cat-fishes, and sillock, the liners 
had 61,224 ewts. at 4s. 9d.=£14,646 ; and the trawlers, 41,256 cwts. 
at 4s. 7d.=£9,410. The total in each case are, for the liners 
1,391,261 cwts. and £585,143; for the trawlers 380,105 cwts. and 
£250,767. 
In glancing at the returns (1892) of the board, which were handed 
in by the Chairman to the Select Committee last year, it would 
seem that one fish, viz. the green cod or coal-fish, is included both 
amongst the round-fishes and the “ other kinds of fish,” in the former 
having the name of “ saithe”’ (adult), and in the latter “ sillocks” 
(young); but this is not a point of much importance in regard to 
the results. As might be expected, the liners, and notably the long- 
liners, have the predominance in the round-fishes, especially in 
regard to cod, ling, and conger, the latter being apparently seldom 
caught in a trawl on the Hastern coast. ‘These large fishes, more- 
over, would appear to protect themselves to a considerable extent 
from this apparatus, especially when it is im frequent use, so that it 
is only in water that is disturbed by gales or by working at night 
that they are caught in numbers under these circumstances. Nor is 
this surprising, since even a tiny cod, of little more than one-eighth of 
an inch, can avoid the forceps intended to capture it. The cod and 
saithe are also largely caught by gill-nets on the West coast ; while 
the great lines, with hooks baited with herring, are the chief 
means of capture used in the case of the conger. Further, it has 
to be remembered that the trawlers, both near and distant, as a 
rule, throw overboard their small haddocks (8 to 9 and 10 inches), 
in both cases because it is not worth their trouble to bring them 
to market and pay dues for the triflmg sum obtained for them; 
and in the instance of the distant trawler, to avoid, in addition, 
the labour of “ gutting” and the expense of ice. Yet the liners 
bring these to market and they are included in their returns. It 
* The full value of the labours of the Royal Commission of 1883, and especially of the 
late Lord Dalhousie, in establishing a series of proper statistics for the fisheries of Scotland, 
cannot be over-estimated, 
