126 Part III. — Twentieth Annual Report 



The evidence on the subject is as follows. The greater part of the 

 Moray Firth, all of which was closed to trawlers in 1892, was, thi^ough 

 a legal decision, opened to trawling from 7th January to Ist March 

 1896, and many Aberdeen vessels fished there during the period stated. 

 Of the five vessels comprised in my Tables, the statistics referring to 

 Nos. I. and lY. could not be affected by this circumstance, since the 

 period in these instances is not included within either of the years 

 under comparison. No. II. might have fished during February in the 

 Moray Firth, and Nos. III. and V. during all the time it was open. 

 Although the whole of the territorial waters within the Moray Firth 

 remained closed, trawlers fishing just beyond the limit on the south 

 coast and at Smith Bank and neighbourhood would be likely to catch 

 more plaice than outside the Firth. An examination of the detailed 

 Tables (showing each landing of fish) suggests that in February 1896 

 No. II. was fishing in the Moray Firth, and No. III. in January and 

 February, and that No. I. was not. The quantity of plaice taken in 

 the former cases was the largest of any month in the year, and the 

 catch of this fish by the beam-trawl in these instances is probably 

 unduly increased by the fishing having taken place on a very favourable 

 fishing ground. 



But besides this temporary fishing in the Moray Firth, it is very 

 probable that during the first year in which the otter-trawl was 

 employed some of the vessels fished further to the north-east in 

 deeper water than they did in the previous year when equipped with 

 the beam-trawl. It was at this time the extension to the northern 

 waters ofi' the Shetlands took place, and the increased catches of 

 megrims, a deep-Avater fish, may be thus explained, as well as, to some 

 extent at least, the diminished takes of plaice and lemon soles, which 

 are scarcer there. The degree to which the change of ground afiected 

 the result cannot be ascertained, but it is certain that it was an 

 important factor. In this connection it is noteworthy that the catch of 

 skates and rays increased in the year in which the otter-trawl was used 

 by 57 per cent. (457^ cwts. against 291 cwts.), and marketable forms 

 are not much moi'e abundant in deep water than nearer shore. 



It is evident from the above considerations that the calculations as 

 to the comparative efficiency of the otter and beam trawls deduced from 

 the statistics is unreliable in the absence of information as to the place 

 of fishing in the two periods. The same objection applies to the calcu- 

 lations of Mr. Garstang founded upon the Scottish statistics. The best 

 method of ascertaining the relative efficiency of the two nets is to 

 employ them simultaneously in a large series of hauls on the same 

 grounds and to register the results, which I hope to be able to do. 



III. — Statistics of the Catches of Six Steam-Trawlers Over a 

 Period of Years. 



When I ascertained that there existed at Aberdeen continuous records 

 of the individual landings of a number of steam-trawlers over a 

 considerable period of years, I felt that the information contained in 

 them was likely to afford valuable evidence on a question which has 

 been so long and so much discussed, namely, the impoverishment of the 

 fishing grounds in recent years. Two of these records went back to 

 1885, and others to 1890, and I therefore had the records of six vessels, 

 including the two referred to, tabulated, so as to show in each case the 

 number of landings and the quantities of the different kinds of fish 

 brought to market, per month and per year, throughout the whole 

 period. This information is contained in the appended Tables (p. 175). 



