26 



Part III. — Tiventij-second Annual Re'port 



The catch included twenty-eight cod, ninety plaice, 111 lemon dabs, three 

 cat-fish, and a few other kinds. The fourth and fifth hauls were not 

 quite so good as regards the number of fish caught. In the first of them 

 the total was 901, of which only 166 were marketable, and these included 

 sixty-two cod, forty-four plaice, fifty-two lemon dabs, and five cat-fish. 

 There were 333 haddocks, all too small to be inarketable, and 126 whit- 

 ings, of which only one was marketable. The number of fishes in the 

 last haul was still less, viz. 664, and all except 100 were unmarketable. 

 Those taken to market comprised twenty-three cod, fifty-four plaice, two 

 coal-fisb, eleven lemon dabs, and a few others. The number of haddocks 

 caught was 127, and of whitings 216, but all the latter and all except 

 three of the haddocks were unmarketable. 



Altogether in the five hauls in this locality, the time of actual fishing 

 being twenty hours and twenty-five minutes, 5241 fishes w^ere taken, the 

 average per hour's fishing being 256"7. The proportion of marketable 

 was, however, not large, owing to the numbers of small haddocks and 

 dabs; the number was 1846, the average per hour being 90'4, while there 

 were 3395 unmarketable, giving a ratio of 166*2 per hour. 



The aggregate number of flat-fishes in the five drags was 1779, 569 

 being marketable and 1208 (chiefly common and long rough dabs) 

 unmarketable. Plaice were most numerous, 297 being taken, and lemon 

 dabs next, of which 249 were caught, all but ten marketable. The 

 aggregate of round-fishes was 3395, there being 1268 marketable and 2127 

 unmarketable. The number of haddocks was 2636, and 1049 of them 

 were marketable and 1587 too small to be taken to market — a consider- 

 able proportion. The average number of haddocks taken per hour's fish- 

 ing was 129'1. 



The particulars as regards the marketable and unmarketable of each 

 kind are given in the following Table : — 



There were also caught in these hauls eighteen (unmarketed) anglers, 

 one dragonet, and nine red gurnards. 



The next place examined was the grounds off Lossiemouth, where four 

 drags were made on the 20th, in from about seven to fourteen fathoms of 

 water. In two of them the net was badly torn, and the catches in 

 these cases was small, and may be neglected. In the first of the others 

 the total number of fishes caught in the four hours during which the drag 



