20 Part I11.—Twenty-fourth Annual Report 
The next haul in the same place, for four hours and fifteen minutes, 
yielded 1013 fishes, 822 being marketable and 191 unmarketable. Plaice 
were the most numerous in the catch, the total being 563, and all but 11 
marketable. Witches were much less abundant, the total being 74, 4 of 
them unmarketable. Among the other flat-fishes were 1 halibut, 4 
turbot, and 18 brill, as well as a black or common sole—a fish which is 
exceedingly scarce in the Moray Firth. Haddocks were scarce, only 64 
being taken, nearly all small, and 18 unmarketable. The number of cod 
was 5, and there were 2 cat-fish, 1 starry ray, and 4 cuckoo rays, In the 
next haul, which lasted for four hours and fifteen minutes, the range of 
depth was rather greater, from 12 to 25 fathoms. The aggregate number 
of fishes was 707, of which 599 were marketable and 108 unmarketable. 
Plaice formed the bulk of the catch, numbering 385, and all but 4 were 
marketable. There were 60 witches, 3 of which were unmarketable, 3 
turbot, 14 brill, and 1 megrim. Haddocks were poorly represented, the 
number being 67, and 7 were unmarketable and nearly all the others 
small, Three cod and 27 codling were taken, 7 of these being unmarket- 
able, as well as 2 coal-fish and a cat-fish. A fifth haul, lasting for four 
hours and ten minutes, in somewhat shallower water, from 13 to 17 
fathoms, yielded a total of 816 fishes, 673 being marketable and 143 
unmarketable. The result was much the same as in the previous four 
drags, the bulk of the catch consisting of plaice, which numbered 456, all 
but 6 being marketable. There were 65 witches, all marketable, 1 
turbot, 14 brill, 5 cod, and a cat-fish. 
Altogether, in the five hauls off Burghead, the aggregate time of actual 
fishing being twenty hours and fifty-five minutes, the total number of 
fishes taken was 5291, of which 4186 were marketable and 1105 
unmarketable. The particulars for each kind of fish are given in the 
following Table, the marketable being shown on the first line (I.) and the 
unmarketable on the second line (II.). 
| 
Cod. |Codling.| Haddock. | Whiting. |Coal-fish. | Cat-fish.| Halibut. |} Turbot. 
I 35 62 425 105 4 8 1 12 
II - I'S 158 37 - - - 
Total 35 67 583 142 4 8 1 12 
a Se a 
Brill. | Plaice. | Witeh, | ‘Memon | Common | yrogrim. | Flounder. 
ie 61 2,040 1,029 15 258 1 10 
II - 21 69 678 1 
Total 61 2,061 1,098 15 936 1 iBT 
Long | a . Z 
fouge Sole. Herring. avons Sas as Angler, 
I 1 14 77 1 1 36 
II 72 - 14 - 3 a7 
Total pa 1 14 91 1 4 73 
