[31] PLAN OF INQUIRY FOR FISHERY CENSUS. 33 
SCHOOLING. 
25. Do cod associate in schools, or are they independent? Answer 
for the whole year or for particular seasons. 
26. Are there different schools in your waters at different seasons? 
°7. Are there different schools in different places? 
28. Do males, females, and young associate together in the same 
schools? 
29. Have any schools of unusual size been observed at,any time, par- 
ticularly in the winter of 1877; if so, at what time did they come and 
go? Were there any peculiarities in their shape or movements? Were 
any hooks of a peculiar character found in them which would indicate 
where they came from ? 
30. Are the movements of the schools affected by the presence of 
food, or other fish preying upon them ? 
31. Are they affected by the ebb and flow of the tide? 
352. Do eod at any time refuse to take the hook; if so, why? 
ABUNDANCE. 
33. Are cod as abundant now as they were five, ten, twenty, and 
thirty years ago? 
34. If not, how do you account for their decrease ? 
30. Have their haunts and habits been changed by the influence of 
man? 
36. Have their numbers been decreased by overfishing ? 
37. Will the mother fish take the hook freely ? 
38. Is the trawl more destructive tharf the hand-line; if so, why? 
39. Do you regard the practice of throwing gurry overboard as in- 
jurious to the cod fishery ? 
E.— Food. 
40. What do the cod feed upon ? 
41. What is found in their stomachs ? 
42. Are they ever seen feeding at the surface; if so, can you describe 
their movements ? 
45. Is their food different in different seasons and localities ? 
T’.— Reproduction. 
SPAWNING HABITS. 
44, Where do the cod spawn, and when ? 
45. Have you ever seen the operation ? 
46. What is the depth of water in the spawning-grounds ? 
47. Do the eggs sink to the bottom, or float ? 
48. What is their color and size? (Compare with sizes of shot.) 
49. Do the eggs and the milt ever run from the fish after it is caught ? 
S. Mis. 29-———3 
