8 Fishery Board for Scotland. 



The diminution shown by the above Table (F) in the years 

 1914-16 was by no means the same for the several species of fish. 

 It was (as we might naturally suppose) the largest in the case of such 

 fishes as come chiefly from the more distant fishing-grounds ; while, 

 on the other hand, the supply was best maintained in the case of 

 those fishes which are furnished in abundance by our inshore waters 

 and adjacent parts of the sea. Thus the supplies of cod, ling, and 

 halibut in 1915 were less than a quarter of those in 1913; and 

 witches had fallen off even more, to a small fraction of their former 

 amount. Turbot and lemon sole, on the other hand, had fallen but 

 little ; haddock had fallen about one-half ; while dabs were landed 

 in larger quantities than ever before, to the extent, namely, of 

 4400 cwts., as against 2000 in 1913. For here, and in one or two 

 other cases, there are signs that care was being taken more than ever 

 before of the less or least valuable food-fishes. In 1916, cod had 

 fallen to one-fifth of the quantity landed in 1913, ling to one-sixth, 

 haddock to about two-fifths ; witches, though only about one-twelfth 

 of the quantities of 1913, were in much greater quantity than in 

 1915 ; and dabs continued to increase, being half as much again as 

 in 1915. - 



From the following table (Table G) we see that while the percent- 

 age proportion of cod in the total trawled catch had steadily risen to 

 a maximum of about 40 per cent, in 1913-14, it fell to 27 per cent, in 

 1915, and to 30 per cent, in 1916. Lemon sole, which had steadily 

 fallen to a minimum of 1"2 in 1913, rose to 28 in 1915, and to 

 27 per cent, in 1916. And, among the "round fishes," while the 

 percentage proportion of cod, ling, saithe, and whiting all alike 

 tended to diminish, that of haddock rose from 19'6 in 1914 to 36'7 

 in 1915, and to 38 per cent, in 1916. 



[Table. t 



i 



