44 



Part III. — Twenty-second Annual Report 



243, and 191, the aggregate being 778, with the very low average per 

 hour's fishing of 63"9. The marketable numbered 702, giving an aver- 

 age per hour of 57 "7, and the unmarlcetable numbered seventy-six. The 

 hourly average for cod was 13'0 and for codling 24"5, while it was only 

 16'8 for haddocks and 1"G for plaice. Tiie numbers of the various kinds 

 taken were as follows : — 



Two hauls were also made with the small-meshed neb around the cod- 

 end of the otter-trawl. In the first of these, which lasted for one hour 

 and twenty minutes, and was made in from eight to twelve fathoms, the 

 total catch was one cod, four codlings, fourteen whitings, two common 

 dabs, one sand-eel, one goby, twenty-two small herrings (from one and 

 three-quarter inches to nearly five inches), and seventy-four sprats. In 

 the second, on the same grounds for one hour, but in seven fathoms, only 

 a single fish — a starry ray — was taken. 



VIII, 



Towards the end of December another series of trawling investigations 

 was carried on in Aberdeen Bay and the Moray Firth, on board the 

 steam-trawler "Star of the Ocean." Several hauls were taken in 

 Aberdeen Bay on the 23rd and 24th of the month, off Slains Castle, in 

 from ten to thirty fathoms, but the net was usually torn, and the catches 

 were very poor. In the first, which lasted for four hours and twenty 

 minutes, 206 fishes were caught, 182 being marketable. Seventy-seven cod 

 were taken, but only seven haddocks and sixty-six plaice, most of the 

 latter being " thirds." In the next drag, for three hours and a half, the 

 catch was reduced to 108 fishes, twenty-three being cod, and there was 

 the same number of plaice, but only five haddocks. The catch of the 

 third haul was still less, viz. sixty fish, twenty -six being cod, eight had- 

 docks, and eleven plaice. In each case, however, the net was torn on the 

 bottom. Two other unrecorded hauls were made, and the aggregate 

 quantity of fish landed from the five hauls amounted to 30g cwts., viz. 

 22 cwts. of cod, 2f cwts. of codlings, 2| cwts. of haddocks. If cwts. of 

 plaice, and 1:^ cwts. of skates. 



On the 25th a number of drags were taken at Burghead Bay, in the 

 Moray Firth, the wind being light, from the south-west, and the weather 

 foggy, and with much better results. In the first of the two recorded, 

 which was in from eight to eleven fathoms, for five hours and five 

 minutes, 1149 fishes were taken, 353 marketable and 796 unmarketable. 

 The catch was chiefly made up of haddocks, mostly small ; of a total of 

 727, the number thrown overboard as unmarketable was 604; there were 

 only three large and no mediums. The second haul, for five hours and 

 ten minutes, yielded 3055 fishes, of which 784 were marketable and 2271 

 unmarketable. The total number of haddocks captured was 2458, and 

 of these 2086 were too small to be marketable. In the two hauls, the 

 time of fishing being ten hours and fifteen minutes, 4204 fishes were 



