30 



Pco't III. — Twenty-second Annual Report 



the ten in a little deeper water on this occasion ; and in the appended 

 Table I give the percentage of each size to the total, and the average 

 number taken in each hour's fishing in the two cases respectively. The 

 two hauls are indicated by A and the ten by B. 



It will be seen how much greater the proportion of small plaice, under 

 about ten inches, is in the former case than in the latter. The actual 

 abundance on the ground, as shown by the average per shot, indicates that 

 while the large plaice were nearly equally distributed, the medium 

 plaice, and still more markedly those still smaller, were far more numerous 

 in the shallower water. Nevertheless it will be observed that the largest 

 average in each case is for the unmarketable fish, that is, under about 

 nine and a half or ten inches. 



Two hauls with the small-meshed net around the cod-end were made 

 in the Dornoch Firth. In the first, which was for an hour and twenty- 

 eight minutes, it was found on getting the trawl up that the fine net had 

 been holed. The total number of fishes taken Avas 143, belonging to 

 eleven species, as follows: — Plaice 55, common dab 38, lemon dab 2, little 

 or yellow sole 3, cod 10, haddock 1, gurnard 14, cat-fish 1, sand-eel 16, 

 goby 1, gemmeous dragonet 2. In the second haul, which lasted for an 

 hour, the catch was also very small, viz. 170 fishes, belonging to five 

 species, viz. — plaice 103, common dab, 57, gurnard 7, sand-eel, 1, angler 2. 



The next place where fishing was carried on was off Lybster on the 

 coast of Caithness, where a drag for two hours in twenty-three fathoms 

 gave 584 fishes, of which 383 were marketable and 201 unmarketab'e. 

 The catch comprised six marketable plaice, forty-six marketable lemon 

 dabs, and forty common dabs, as well as 410 haddocks, 308 of them 

 being marketable, two cod, and forty- four whitings, twenty-five of which 

 were too small to be marketable. 



Smith Bank was then visited, and a haul there, in from nineteen to 

 twenty-two fathoms, for two hours and five minutes, gave a total of 773 

 fishes, 378 being marketable. The flat-fishes consisted of two turbot, 220 

 common dabs, and twenty-nine lemon dabs, all but seven of them market- 

 able; there were also taken 481 haddocks, 316 marketable, one cod and 

 twelve marketable codlings, as well as two cat-fish and twenty-three 

 gurnards. 



After leaving the Moray Firth five hauls were made in Aberdeen Bay, 

 with very good results. The first was in from eight to ten fathoms off 

 the Black Dog, and it lasted for four hours. The number of fishes taken 

 was 1749, of which 1384 were marketable and 365 unmarketable, the 

 bulk of the catch consisting of plaice and haddocks. Of 917 haddocks 

 caught, 707 were marketable and 210 unmarketable ; all the former 



