of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 127 



One of the vessels (No. T.) was engaged in trawling in each month 

 throughont the sixteen years, the total number of landings being 1004, 

 and the aggregate quantity of fish landed amounting to 61,232 cwts. 

 In several of the other cases, however, the trawling was in some years 

 interrupted, the vessel being engaged for some months in line-fishing 

 {e.g., No, II., from April -Augu.st, 1892, and March-May, 1893), or in 

 tishing from English ports ; in such cases the fish are not included in 

 the Tables. With regard to the difiei'entiation of the kinds of fish it 

 has to be noted that gradually a greater distinction was made according 

 to the relative quantities of the diflei-ent kinds and sizes brought to 

 market as the industry developed. Thus hake are included under 

 " saithe " until September 1888 ; brill under "turbot" until February 

 1886; dabs under " plaice " until May 1892; witches under "plaice" 

 until April 1889, and megrims under "plaice" until July 1892. The 

 quantity of megrims landed in the early years was comparatively small. 

 Codling, moreover, appears to have been included under " other kinds 

 of fish " until August 1887. The classification of the fishes according to 

 sizes has also become more exact, according to the market requirements. 

 Plaice of all sizes were grouped together vintil April 1899, when a 

 distinction was made between " large" and " small," ; in June 1892 an 

 intermediate class, " mediums," was introduced. Lemon soles were first 

 divided into lai"ge and small in August 1893; witches into large and 

 small in April 1889 ; megrims into the same groups in January 1895. 

 Haddocks were slumped until April 1888, when they were classified as 

 large and small, the " medium " group (" seconds ") being introduced 

 in June 1892; recently, it may be said, a fourth class of "extra- 

 large " has been adopted. Whitings were divided into lai-ge and small 

 in June 1888. 



It is greatly to be regretted that these statistics of the takes of 

 trawlers are of little or no value so far as concerns the more important 

 subject, whether or not, and if so, to what extent, and in what way 

 impoverishment of the fishing gi'ounds has occurred since steam-trawling 

 was so greatly developed. Their inutility in this respect is owing to the 

 fact that information is not available as to the grounds on which the 

 fish were caught in the various months and years ; and in a minor degree 

 to the use of the beam-trawl in the earlier years and the otter-trawl in 

 the later years. The latter difiiculty would be removed if the i^elative 

 efficiency of the two nets in the capture of the various species included 

 in the Tables was determined. 



With regard to the place of fishing, enquiries which have been made 

 among trawling skippers show in a general way that the fishing was at 

 first conducted in the bays, the Moray Firth, and the inshore waters 

 along the coast, and gradually extended further from shore, first in a 

 southerly and easterly direction, and then to the north and north-east, 

 and to the west coast. Precise information in regard to the fishing 

 grounds frequented by the Aberdeen ti-awlers exists, by a fortunate 

 chance, for the first three months of 1891, and I have obtained similar 

 information regarding a large number of trawlers during last year, 

 which shows, as described elsewhere (p. 140), that the area of fishing has 

 greatly changed in the interval. Moreover, when the trawlers with 

 whose catches I am dealing began to fish, the greater part of the Moray 

 Firth, and in the case of two of the vessels the whole of the territorial 

 waters, vv^ere open to them, and there is no doubt that a considerable 

 proportion of the fish, especially of the flatfish, was obtained on grounds 

 which were afterwards closed. It is elsewhere shown how greatly the 

 proportion of the difierent fishes included in the Tables may vary on 

 differeiit grounds (pp. 81, 117), and it would be probably but little less 



