20 



Fart III. — Twenty-second Annvxil Report 



recorded. The places visited were Burghead Bay, where most of the 

 hauls were taken, off Cromarty, the Dornoch Firth, and, on the 13th, 

 Aberdeen Bay. The quantity of fish caught was not very great, haddocks 

 particularly being comparatively scarce. 



The first haul was made off Burghead Bay, about four miles N.N.W. 

 of Burghead light, in from seventeen to twenty fathoms, and it lasted for 

 four hours and fifteen minutes. The aggregate number of fishes caught 

 was only 228, of which 173 were marketable and fifty-five unmarketable. 

 They included only five haddocks, all marketable, eight cod, fifty plaice, 

 and ninety-four witches, all marketable but eight. The next drag was a little 

 moi-e productive, 692 fishes being caught in the four hours it lasted. Of 

 these 463 were marketable and 229 unmarketable. They included forty- 

 two haddocks, all marketable, fourteen cod, a halibut, three brill, one 

 turbot, 128 plaice, and 191 witches, as well as fourteen lemon dabs, two 

 cat-fish, and nine skates. Other six hauls were made in the same 

 locality, but in rather deeper water, and they were somewhat more pro- 

 ductive. The first of these was in from eighteen to twenty-five fathoms, 

 Burghead light bearing from four to five miles S.S.E., and it lasted for 

 four hours and five minutes. The number of fishes obtained was 725, of 

 which 476 were marketable and 249 unmarketable. The former included 

 eighty-eight haddocks, twenty-three cod, fifty-five codling, twenty-one 

 plaice, thirty-eight lemon dabs, and 197 Avitches, as well as a few cat-fish 

 and skates. The next haul, a little further off in somewhat deeper water — 

 from twenty to thirty fathoms — lasted for four hours and twenty minutes, 

 the aggregate catch being larger, namely, 1029 fishes, of which, however, 

 a larger proportion were unmarketable. The marketable fishes numbered 

 586, the increase being chiefly in cod, plaice, and witches. The 

 unmarketable consisted of whitings, common and long rough dabs, and 

 herrings, of which seventy- four were taken, showing that a considerable 

 shoal was present on the ground. 



The other hauls in this locality Were rather less productive, and they 

 were all characterised by the presence of cod, plaice, and especially 

 witches, and the comparative scarcity of haddocks, particularly small 

 haddocks. 



In the following Table ai'e given the numbers of the various species of 

 fishes taken in this locality, the marketable being distinguished from the 

 unmarketable. One of the hauls in the deeper water in Avhich the net 

 got fouled is omitted. 



{Continued. 



