34 Fishery Board for Scotland. 



V. The Shetland Area. 



The fifty fathom contour line of depth is very close to the East 

 Coast of Shetland, so that there is only a very narrow zone of shallow- 

 water in the neighbourhood of the islands. With two exceptions, to 

 be mentioned immediately, the stations which are in that area of over 

 fifty fathoms in the Northern North Sea to the east of Shetland have 

 never yielded positive results for plaice eggs. A few plaice eggs have, 

 however, been captured at stations 5a (60° 05' N. ; 0° 48' W.) and 

 5b (60° 37' N. ; 0° 35' W.), which are situated just beyond the fifty 

 fathom contour line on the east of Shetland. These stations have been 

 visited with regularity but have always given poor results. No plaice 

 eggs were found on any of the February visits, and the largest numbers 

 of eggs captured in the first quarter of the year were got towards the 

 end of March 1910. 



Number at Developmental Stages, 

 a |3 y 5 

 Station 5a— 25th March 1910 .20 11 8 2 

 Station 5b— 25th March 1910 .4 4 6 4 



In March 1905 observations were made at a number of stations in 

 the shelter of the islands and close to the coast in the shallower zone. 

 At the inner stations within Yell Sound no plaice eggs were found, but 

 at the north entrance to that Sound, just outside the Ramna Stacks, a 

 few were recorded. Similarly, just outside the eastern entrance to 

 Yell Sound, near Outskerry Light, they were but sparingly represented. 

 At both these localities the eggs were well advanced in development. 

 Plaice eggs were not found in Lerwick Harbom", but immediately out- 

 side at Bressay Light they occurred in relatively large numbers. A total 

 of 68, of which 51 were in the first stages of development, was got in a 

 half-hour haul at the siuface with the cheese-cloth net. 



" The Shetland Islands are included in Statistical Area X., and the 

 smoothed monthly means of large plaice captured within this area show 

 that there is an accumulation of adult plaice dimng the months which 

 comprise the spawning period, and mainly in March and February " 

 Fulton (1913, p. 125). 



Thus we conclude that although plaice spawn on the East Coast of 

 Shetland, spawning is confined to a very narrow belt close to the shore, 

 and even to certain localities within this belt. 



Stations Situated on a Line East from the Firth of Forth. 



Station 46 (56° 16' N. ; 2° 17' W.) is situated within the Firth of 

 Forth, close to the Fife Coast, and Stations 45, 44, 43, and 42 are suc- 

 cessively 15 miles apart to the eastwards of this position. 



Two of the " Goldseeker " trawling stations within the Firth of 

 Forth area may be considered along with Station 46. Station VI. 

 ("The Fluke Hole ") runs parallel to the Fife Coast, whilst Station V. 

 lies west of May Island. 



The area close to the Fife Coast within the Firth of Forth area has 

 been examined with gi'eat regularity so that om' knowledge of this 

 area is fairly complete. Plaice do not appear to spawn here in December 

 or January, as no plaice eggs have been taken in the locality, notwith- 



