of the Fisheiy Board for Scotland. 



25 



as 174 plaice, eleven lemou dabs, and a number of common dabs and 

 flounders, being caught. In the fourth drag the net got badly split, and 

 the catch was small, amounting to only 160 fishes, 111 being marketable. 

 It however included thirty-eight cod and forty-seven marketable plaice. 



Omitting this imperfect haul, the total number of fishes taken in the 

 other three drags in the Dornoch Firth ^vas 2066, of which 1470 were 

 marketable and 596 unmarketable. The duration of the fishing in these 

 drags was twelve hours and fifteen minutes, and the averages per hour's 

 fishing were therefore as follows: — 120"0 for the marketable, 48'7 for the 

 unmarketable, and 168-7 for both included. The average for plaice was 

 49-0 per hour. The three hauls yielded 140 cod, but only seven had- 

 docks and a single whiting, all marketable. The absence of small had- 

 docks and whitings both here and at Burghead Bay Avas remarkable, and 

 formed a striking contrast to what obtained later in the year. 



The numbers of marketable and unmarketable Jishes caught in the 

 three draa:s in the Dornoch Firth are as follows : — 



There were also caught three herrings, twenty-two sprats, and two 

 lumpsuckers. 



On leaving the Dornoch Firth the vessel ran to Smith Bank, where 

 five hauls were made on the western edge in from about nineteen to 

 twenty-eight fathoms of water, and here much better results were 

 obtained than in the localities above described. The first haul, Avhich 

 lasted for four hours, yielded 726 fishes, of which 262 were marketable and 

 464 unmarketable. The catch included eleven cod, a halibut, forty plaice, 

 a few lemon dabs and witches, and also 223 haddocks, in the latter respect 

 thus differing from the catches in the Dornoch Firth and Burghead Bay. 

 Eighty-two of the haddocks were too small to be marketable. There 

 were also 117 gurnards, a fish more sparingly represented in the previous 

 localities— at this season it is only found in any number in the deeper 

 waters offshore. The second drag was better than the first, 1016 fishes 

 being caught, of which 670 were marketable. They included thirty cod 

 574 haddocks, sixty-nine plaice, fifty-eight lemon dabs, and seven cat-fish. 

 Seventy-five of the haddocks were two small to be marketable. 



The third haul produced 1934 fishes, 648 being marketable and 1286 

 unmarketable. On this occasion haddocks were well represented, 1379 

 being taken ; no less than 973 of these were too small to be marketable. 



