16 Fishery Board for Scotland. 
tendency is to the annual repetition of a wave such as is shown in 
figure 4, which indicates an annual maximum about mid-summer, and 
a corresponding minimum in winter. 
> AA y i" = A 
Je UNH AEE 25 wa SO. N Dig 
i I }: 
GO} : | fo hod li 
ie Pe 
SO} 
Ol Begs aS ES 
acai jeea 
2 eile seat) Noni alls Foes 
pee eet ee: 
Fre. 4. Mean monthly catch of cod and codling, in ewts., per 100 hours’ 
fishing, in Area X. (Shetland) ; mean of years 1902-1912. 
Looking now at the same continuous curve for codling (fig. 5), it 
is seen that this annual wave, repeated from year to year, is subject 
tochanges. It leaps up to a very unusual height in the year 1910; 
it is exceptionally low in 1907. But on the whole, and this is the 
main thing, it is impossible to say that there is any indication of a 
decline from year to year, during the whole period. This, unfor- 
tunately, would not be the case were we considering certain other 
fishes, such as plaice, as has been demonstrated in one of the 
Board’s recently-published a eee 
Passing to Area XITT. (fig. 6), it is seen that, so far from there 
being any evidence of steady diminution, some recent years, and 
especially 1908-1910, have shown an abundance of codling exceed- 
ing anything to be Reo for several years before. In Area XIV. 
(fic. 7) this is again emphatically the case, the catches being much 
higher from 1908 to 1912 than in any of the years from 1902-1907. 
In Area XVIT. (fig. 8) 1910 again appears as the best year, but the 
tendency throughout is in the direction of improvement rather than 
the reverse. There is a similar and indisputable trend of improve- 
ment in Area C (Rona and Sule Skerry). Passing to the near 
grounds off Aberdeen, Area XXIII. (fig. 9) and XXIX. (fig. 10), 
the curves are on the whole remarkably continuous and regular, 
and, if anything, the tendency is again in the direction of improve- 
ment, even in these much frequented areas. 
Neither these nor any other of the Board’s statistics, so far as I 
* Fifth Report, &e., 1913. 
