116 



Pari III. — Twentieth Annual Report 



Among the " oiFal " from the hauls on 15th, IGth, and 17th (which 

 wei-e mixed) were the following : — 70 gurnards, 18 haddocks, sixteen 

 whiting, three hake, one bib (female, 227 mm., ripe), 106 megrims, 

 eight lemon dabs, eight witches, one common dab, two anglers, two 

 argentines, fifteen sandy rays, one shagreen ray, and two starry rays. 



The scarcity of fish caused the vessel to again shift its ground. The 

 skipper was trying to strike a place where haddocks were abundant — 

 this fish forming the great staple of the north-eastern fishing — and had 

 not yet succeeded. As I stated in last year's Report, grounds which may 

 furnish good fishing for many months during winter, and to which the 

 trawlers go back again and again, may be practically deserted after the 

 spawning season, the haddocks dispersing, some think, to deeper water, 

 or rising from the bottom, and it is often only after a good deal of 

 " hunting " that a place is struck where the fish are abundant. After 

 touching at Shetland, the vessel on 19th May steamed 53 miles by log 

 S,E. by S. I S. from the south point of Fetlar Island, Shetland, and 

 trawled in this locality, in about 63 fathoms, until the 22nd. It was 

 found afterwards (by log to Buchanness) that during these days the 

 vessel had gradually drifted northwards while fishing, so that, on the 

 22nd, it was about sixteen or seventeen miles further north than on the 

 19th. A large number of hauls were taken on this ground, and much 

 better catches obtained, but only two hauls were completely recorded. 

 They represented 5| hours' actual trawling, and the fishes taken 

 numbered 2510, of which 2005 were marketable, as follows : — 



There were also taken two starry rays, two Norway pouts, two 

 anglers, and one great silver smelt [Argentina silus). In one of the 

 drags — for three-quarters of an hour — the small-meshed net was around 

 the cod-end, and it was found to contain 48 haddocks, four whitings, 27 

 long rough dabs, fifteen common dabs, Norway pouts, and one Norway 

 haddock (136 mm.). There was a hole in the net on this occasion. 

 The common dabs were found to be ripe. 



The quantity of fish landed on 24th May as the result of this trip 

 amounted to 236 cwts., which realised £78 17s 7d, The particulars are 

 as follows : — 



