SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 187 



in the region immediately north of the Straits of Dover 

 and spawned there. After spawning they migrated 

 northward again to their spring and summer feeding- 

 grounds. 



Scientific investigation into the sea-fisheries continues 

 to be made by the Scotch Fishery Board, under the 

 superintendence of Dr. T. Wemyss Fulton. Most of 

 the research work is done at the Marine Laboratory, 

 Bay of Nigg, Aberdeen, where requests for plaice fry 

 were received from fishermen on various parts of the 

 coast. A considerable improvement in the plaice-fishing 

 on the Aberdeenshire coast has been reported by fisher- 

 men, who attribute this to the liberation of many 

 millions of fry during the last nine years. During that 

 period nearly 193,000,000 plaice fry from the Hatchery 

 were liberated off Aberdeenshire, 45,000,000 being 

 deposited in the Fraserburgh neighbourhood. The 

 number of food fishes marked and liberated during that 

 period was 2328, of which 1915 were plaice. Of the 

 marked and liberated fishes 503 were afterwards caught 

 and returned, 500 being plaice, of which 26 per cent, 

 were recaptured. The attempts to mark haddock were 

 unsuccessful, owing to the great tenderness of that fish, 

 but, in the hope that information may be secured, special 

 care is being taken and a special mark employed. 



There are many fishermen who make a study of 

 some of the fishes that are captured. The vast majority 

 of the animals naturally go unnoticed, the only interest 

 in them being of a temporary nature and confined to a 

 swift calculation of their probable market value. Any- 

 thing exceptional, however, will claim long and earnest 

 consideration, for to fishermen the uncommon is what a 



