24 



Fishery Board for Scotland. 



hake, coming in from farther to the westward, arrive almost simul- 

 taneously in these two regions, namely, the Shetland region and the 

 region north of the Lewes, and that their course is directed in some 

 years more abundantly to the one and in some years to the other. 



The Saithe. 



The saithe is another fish whose seasonal migrations are clear and 

 regular, though it does not at any season desert our coasts so completely 

 as the hake does. From Table VIII. (supplemented by some other 

 data which I have not printed), we can trace the course of at least 

 part of its annual migration. It comes to us from the north. At 

 Faroe its season of maximum is in early spring, about the month of 

 March, at which season the average catch per hundred homes' fishing 



TABLE VIII. 



Average Monthly Catch of Saithe, in Cwts., per 100 Hours' Fishing, 

 Aberdeen Trawlers, 1903-13. 



Area, 



X. . 



XIII. 



XIV. 



XVIII. 



XXIII. 



D. . 



Faroe 



Iceland 



X. . 



XIII. 



XIV. 



XVIII. 



XXIII. 



D. . 



Faroe 



Iceland 



Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept 



24-8 

 23-4 

 20-1 

 9-9 

 •9 

 11-1 

 12-3 

 41-8 



21-9 

 19-6 

 18-2 

 10-2 

 1-0 

 9-6 

 21-5 

 79-7 



28-7 

 13-1 

 16-7 

 5-6 

 •6 

 15-4 

 40-9 

 52-6 



33-4 



6-6 



12-8 



3-8 



•6 



21-9 



66-5 



82-9 



33-9 



17-6 



10-9 



3-6 



2-5 



23-0 



56-2 



179-9 



50-7 



23-5 

 51-8 



9-2 



2-9 



24-9 



23-7 

 76-9 



43-8 

 26-4 

 31-9 

 26-4 

 4-2 

 24-9 

 27-0 

 45-5 



20-9 



18-9 



2.5-1 



48-2 



9-5 



9-8 



24-3 



123-2 



10-1 

 6-6 



25-6 



23-1 

 7-6 

 8-9 



30-6 

 159-2 



The same numbers smoothed. 



31-7 



11-2 

 13-6 

 3-5 

 1-2 

 19-4 

 55-5 

 98-6 



39-3 

 15-9 



25-2 

 5-5 



; 2-0 



23-3 

 48-8 

 113-8 



42-8 



22-5 

 31-5 

 13-1 

 3-2 

 24-9 

 35-6 

 100-8 



16-6 



12-9 



26-2 



28-0 



7-4 



7-2 



23-7 



132-5 



18- 



13- 



27- 



18- 



6- 



2- 



16- 



115- 



15-4 

 13-3 



27-2 



19-3 



5-6 



5-8 



19-5 



100-7 



Oct. 



17-4 

 17-5 



27-3 

 17-9 

 3-7 

 3-3 

 14-5 

 62-9 



Nov. 



16-1 

 19-4 

 25-9 

 18-9 

 2-0 

 1-5 

 15-8 

 45-6 



15-3 

 21-8 

 23-8 

 17-6 

 2-2 

 3-9 

 12-0 

 79-2 



Dec. 



13-1 

 26-0 



17-4 



17-6 



1-6 



4-4 



8-4 



164-3 



18-0 

 22-9 

 21-1 

 15-5 

 1-5 

 5-7 

 12-2 

 83-9 



has been (dming the last eleven years) about 66 cwt. Around 

 Shetland, and to the south thereof (Areas X. and XIV.), its maximal 

 abundance is about the month of May, and the average catch in that 

 month has been about 50 cwts. per hundi-ed hours' fishing. The 

 maximum is about the same season or a little later (May- June) on the 

 North-western areas, C. and D., but here the catch is considerably 

 smaller, and the same is true of Area XIII., to the northward of the 

 Orkneys. It is June or July before the maximum is reached in our 

 North-eastern and Eastern areas, XVIII., XIX., XVII., XXIII. , and 

 XXIX., and in the same order the magnitude of the average 

 catches rapidly falls away. On the Aberdeen area (XXIII. ), the average 

 catch per hundred hours in July, the best month of the year, is under 

 10 cwts. ; and in the area next to the southward, to the east of the Firth 

 of Forth (Ai-ea XXIX.), the average maximal catch is only about 

 2 cwts. In some of our areas, especially XIII. , and also at Iceland, 



