12 Part III. — Twentieth Animal Beport 



With regard to round fishes the averages do not allow any 

 certain conclusion to be drawn. The abundance of these fishes, as 

 tested by experimental fishing, while subject to the same vicissi- 

 tudes as the flat-fishes, is subject to others in addition, due to their 

 shoaling habits and more erratic movements. The diminution of 

 haddocks, for example, from an average of 74'3 and a percentage of 

 62*0 in the period 1890-95, to an average of 3*9 and a percentage 

 of 5"3 in the hauls in 1900-1, is obviously unassociated with the 

 closure. The only round fish which shows a progressive increase 

 in both the average and the percentage from one period to another 

 is the gurnard, which spawns very largely indeed in the Firth of 

 Forth, and enters it in summer for that purpose ; but there is no 

 satisfactory evidence that the closure has increased the number of 

 round fishes generally within the closed area. 



Experience shows that the satisi'actory determination of the 

 question in regard to round fishes would require more ample means 

 of investigation than were available, because the separation of the 

 fluctuations due to natural causes from any variation that might 

 arise from the closure of the waters to trawling, is, for the reasons 

 above stated, much more difficult than in the case of flat-fishes. 

 Not only did the small size of the " Garland," and its comparative 

 unseaworthiness, interfere with the completeness of the observa- 

 tions, but the small trawl used has proved a most inefficient 

 instrument for the work, compared with the trawls used by ordinary 

 trawlers. This inefficiency of the " Garland " in these respects has 

 been pointed out in each of the Annual Keports since 1889. 



North Sea Investigations. 



In connection with the question of the impoverishment of the 

 fishing grounds in the North Sea and the relative abundance 

 of the food-fishes in the Moray Firth and territorial waters, an 

 enquiry has been made by means of steam-trawlers fishing from 

 the port of Aberdeen, the results of which are embodied in a paper 

 in the present Report by Dr T. Wemyss Fulton, the Scientific 

 Superintendent. Part of the investigation consisted in the 

 employment of trawlers, as a rule once a month, for the most part 

 in the Moray Firth, Aberdeen Bay and neighbourhood, and 

 occasionally offshore, the results of 155 hauls of the otter-trawJ 

 being recorded. A number of experiments were also made with 

 special nets and large collections of young fishes obtained. 



In addition to the investigations referred to, detailed statistics 

 were obtained regarding the fish landed at Aberdeen by a con- 

 siderable number of trawlers. One series shows the quantities of 

 the various kinds of fish landed on each trip, or voyage, by six 

 steam-trawlers over a period of years ; in two instances the period 

 comprises sixteen years, from 1885 to 1900 inclusive, and in the 

 other four cases it comprises ten years, from 1890 to 1900. The 

 quantities of fish landed in each month and year by these vessels, 

 and the number of voyages, are given in a series of Tables appended. 

 It is shown that in recent years, especially since the use of the 

 otter-trawl instead of the beam-trawl, the aggregate catch has in 

 nearly all cases been increased. In the four years 1891-94, the 

 four steam-trawlers referred to landed 72,409 cwts. of fish, while in 

 the four years 1897-1900 they landed 86,837 cwts., or 14,428 cwts. 



