Aberdeen Fishery Statistics. 7 



But the rate of increase has been vastly different in the different 

 classes of fish. Dealing a.gain with the Aberdeen trawl-fishery alone 

 (Table D), we find that the landings of " round " fish — cod, haddock, 

 etc. — have increased twenty-five fold since 1889, while those of " flat " 

 fish — plaice, tui'bot, halibut, and the like — have only increased two and 

 a half times. In the former the rate of increase is equivalent to 

 doubling the catch every 5 years ; in the latter, to doubling only every 

 18 years. Indeed, while the landings of round fish have steadily 

 increased all the while, those of flat fish are scarcely larger in 1913 than 

 in 1904, and were actually less in 1907 and 1910 than in that year, in 

 spite of the great increase of the fleet and its catching power. But the 

 dift'erence becomes still more remarkable when we consider some of the 

 separate species of fish. We see, for instance, that from 1889 to 1913 

 the landings of trawled haddock at Aberdeen have multiplied by 

 seven, those of cod by more than one hundred, and those of ling, 

 whiting, and saithe, by still greater amounts ; the catch, of cod has 

 steadily increased, but that of haddock reached its maximum about 

 1907, and the catch in 1913 was only 63 per cent, of the catch of that 

 year. Among the flat fishes, lemon sole has increased well-nigh 

 steadily, though a slight falling off is at length apparent ; the catch of 

 1913 is about three times that of 1889. The catch of halibut has in- 

 creased enormously, and so has that of witches and megrims, all of 

 which deep-sea fishes were landed in insignificant quantities at the 

 beginning of om' period. But plaice have diminished perceptibly, 

 and tm'bot have decreased so considerably that the trawled catch of 

 1913 is less than half that of 1889. 



Table E., which exhibits the percentage proportion of each fish in 

 the Aberdeen trawling catch, illustrates with equal or gTeater clearness 

 the same gxadual changes. In 1889, while trawling was practically 

 restricted to the inshore waters, the flat fish, principally consisting of 

 plaice, constituted 30 per cent, of the entire catch. Now, when 

 flat fish altogether constitute less than 5 per cent., the plaice itself 

 constitutes less than 1 per cent, of the total trawler's catch. Cod 

 has advanced from under 6 per cent, to close on 40 per cent., and 

 has taken the place of haddock as the most important of all the trawled 

 fishes. Haddock has fallen, in comparatively recent times, from 

 constituting 50 per cent, or more of the catch, to under 23 per cent. 

 On the whole, it is evidently the deep-sea fishes — cod, Hng, saithe, and 

 halibut — which have taken a larger and larger relative place in the 

 total catch. 



The steady growth in relative, as well as in actual, importance of 

 the Aberdeen market is fm'ther illustrated by Table F. In this Table 

 are compared the quantities of fish landed in Aberdeen, both by line 

 and trawl, with the total quantities landed in Scotland — the herring 

 fishery always excepted. We see that the total landings of trawl and 

 line-caught fish at Aberdeen amount to no less than 73 per cent.— 

 very nearly three-quarters — of the entire quantity landed in Scotland. 

 In the case of several important fishes — ^ling, tusk, saithe, hake, and 

 halibut — from 80 to 90 per cent, of the entire Scottish supply are 

 landed at the port of Aberdeen. 



Let us now consider, for a moment, the place which Aberdeen holds 

 as a fishing port in comparison with the gi'eat English markets ; and 

 here we are of com'se dealing, as elsewhere in this article, only with 



