326 REMARKS ON TRAWLING. 
is an interesting fact that, notwithstanding the recent remarks con- 
cerning the condition of the trawled fishes, that the price of the latter 
surpasses that of the former by 2s. 11d. per ewt. It is true the 
trawler can more readily reach the market with his fishes, but against 
this has to be placed the great number of local fishing-boats which 
have only brief distances to traverse, and the fact that the trawlers 
who go to distant banks bring fishes “gutted ”’ as well as preserved 
in ice, and the appearance of which is not always in their favour. 
When the flat-fishes are considered, it is found that though the 
liners produced considerably more in weight, yet the price obtained 
per ewt. is not half (by 3s. 10d. less) that got by the trawlers, so 
that the total value of the flat-fishes procured by the latter is nearly 
double that of the former.* Yet we know that halibut are largely 
caught by the liners, and that the three-mile limit and the closed 
waters in addition are at the disposal of the latter for relays of lines 
wherewith to capture plaice, dabs, and flounders. In all probability, 
however, it is the plaice, the witches, and especially the lemon-dabs 
and the turbot which prove so advantageous to the trawlers. 
Of the “other kinds of fish”? little need be said except that com- 
paratively few hake come into the trawl, whereas the liner perhaps 
obtains a larger number ; that while the liner brings the gurnards 
to shore and often eats them, they are frequently thrown overboard 
by the trawler ; and that the cat-fish (wolf-fish) is caught by both 
in considerable numbers, but whereas, in certain trawlers, this fish 
is taken to port on the Tuesdays, it is thrown overboard at the end of 
the week. 
In 1893 the equivalent returns show that the liners’ brought to 
land 1,136,389 cwts. of round-fishes= £466,399, this being 93,419 
ewts. and £50,125 less than last year. The most marked deficiency 
has been in haddocks, 69,766 cwts. and £35,092; cod, 54,260 cwts. 
and £20,661 ; and whiting, 15,381 and £5,741. An increase had 
taken place both in line- and trawl-fishing in the other round fishes, 
viz. ling, torsk, saithe, and in the conger caught by line. How far 
this diminution was due to the unfavourable weather of 1893 is 
anopen question. It certainly must have had some influence. ‘The 
abundance of very small haddocks is another fact to be remembered, 
since many were not,brought to shore,and they occupied hooks on which 
larger fishes might have been caught. The trawlers landed 309,862 
ewts. of round fishes= £178,304, or 48,662 cwts.=£35,242 more than 
last year. With regard to flat-fishes, the liners produced 57,149 
ewts. =£43,306, or 4,685 ewts. and £48 more than last year; the 
* At Montrose, for instance, the flat-fishes landed by trawlers realised nearly 20s. per 
ewt., while those caught by line produced only 9s. 11d. per ewt. But turbot alone was 
sold at £3 6s. 2d. per cwt., so that the trawlers had the advantage in this respect. 
