o/ tlie Fishery Board for Scotland. 



85 



since dabs were included with plaice and niegvims with witches prior to 

 1897, this combination is maintained thruiighout tlie Talile.* 



Witches and megrims, as well as plaice, are brought in considerable 

 quantities from Iceland, but there is no doubt that the bulk of those in 

 the Table were taken in the northern part of the North Sea. 



In the Board of Trade returns of the fish landed in England, witches 

 and megrims are not distiuguisheJ, and it is not clear in what category 

 they are placed. But if similar information were available for the fish 

 landed in England by English trawlers, it is probable that a corresponding 

 increase would be shown in witches and megrims, for not only are they 

 brought from Iceland, but large numbers of English trawlers fish in the 

 northern part of the North Sea, where these fish are abundant. I have 

 myself, when on board a trawler, seen move English than Scotch boats 

 fishing on the deep-water grounds. 



The larger round fishes have also increased in proportion, like the 

 witches and megrims. The quantity of ling caught by trawlers rose from 

 5036 cwts. in 1697 to 41,701 cwts. in 1901, an increase of over 700 per 

 cent. ; saithe increased in the same period by nearly 500 per cent. ; tusk 

 — a northern deep-water fish — increased from 92 cwts. in 1898 to 



* The separate quantities since 1897 are these : — 



fThc increase in turbot in 1896 was duo to the discovery of new groun<ls at 81.. 

 Kilda ; two of the best shots were 744 and 660 turbots. Large takes of cod and ling were 

 also obtained. 



X The increase in halibut in 1893 and afterwards was owing to the fact that for the 

 first time a number of local vessels began to make trips to Iceland. 



