20 Part LI1.—T wenty-third Annual Report 
A haul for four hours was made in thirteen fathoms off Lossiemouth, 
the vessel trawling around a dan, but the catch was very poor, the 
number of marketable fishes secured being 191, and the unmarketable 
79, a total of 270. There were 107 plaice, 36 haddocks, eight brill, a 
cod, a catfish, and a lumpsucker in the catch. 
The next place visited was the Dornoch Firth. On 30th March the 
trawl was dropped in sixteen fathoms, with Dunrobin Castle bearing 
N.W. and Tarbert Lighthouse about S.4E.; a sweep was made around 
the bay into four fathoms and out again, the haul lasting for four hours. 
The weather was fine and the sea smooth. 
In the hauls made here a special cod-end with large meshes was used, 
and the catches, especially of the unmarketable fishes, were therefore 
smaller than would have been the case otherwise ; the records cannot 
thus in this respect be compared with the foregoing. 
The catch consisted of 400 fishes, of which 354 were marketable. The 
plaice numbered 138, and there were 69 cod and 123 flounders. In the 
next haul, in the same locality, 210 fishes were taken, the catch com- 
prising 43 cod, 87 plaice, 38 flounders and 29 skates and rays. Other 
four drags were made here, and the aggregate catch for the six hauls, 
comprising twenty-four hours and five minutes fishing, was 1932 fish, 
1837 being marketable. 
The details of the catches are given in the adjoining Table; what is 
stated above as to the mesh of the cod-end must be borne in mind. 
Cod. | Codling.| ©! [Haddock.| Cat-fish.| Brill. | Plaice. ee 
5 _ | Common 4 Thorn : Grey 
Witch. | Flounder. Dab, Rough Gack Sprat. Sieate: 
Dab. 
I 15 235 57 5 92 5 
II 32 17 3 11 2 23 
Total 15 267 74 3 | 103 2 28 
Large and medium-sized haddocks were present in the catches, the 
numbers taken being—large 86, medium 80, small 130, fourths, 152; 
many of the smaller haddocks would escape thrcugh the mesh of the 
cod-end used. 
The fishing in the Dornoch Firth on this occasion was of special 
interest, for several reasons. Cod were taken in quite unusual numbers, 
a shoal of spawning fish having been hit upon, and each haul of the 
net was characterised by the large number of cod present. On hauling 
the net, the cod-end, in which the fish were contained, could be seen 
floating at the surface some distance away from the vessel; this is 
always the case with large catches of the greater round fishes. The 
greatest number of cod caught in one haul of four hours was 282, but in 
each drag the net contained many scores. Owing to the weight of fish 
