— D — 



LATER STAGES OF GADOIDS 



On the Dogger Bank area Bi the diminution is very marked; for only 1962 landings were 

 reported from this area in 1910 as against4755 in 1906, and the landings in 1910 were only 73°/ 

 of the mean for the five years. In 

 the adjacent area C2 there is again 

 a considerable drop from 1906, 

 but in this case, as the fishing 

 was even less in some intermediate 

 years, the difference between 1910 

 and the mean is insignificant. In 

 area B 4, which includes a great 

 part of the small fishing grounds 

 off the Danish coast, the diminu- 

 tion is again conspicuous, from 

 945 landings in 1906 and 1368 

 in 1907 to 286 in 1910; the 

 number of landings in 1910 is 

 in this case only 35 °/ of the 

 mean for the five years. On 

 the other hand in the northern 

 grounds of F l there has been a 

 great and steady increase, from 439 

 landings in 1906 to 1093 in 1910. 

 The total number of landings 

 from the North Sea in 1910 is 

 a little greater than in the three 



previous years, but a little less Fig _ 2 _ Percentage Mo. ot Landings of Steam Trawlers in 1910, 

 than in 1906 (Table I e). compared with the mean of 1906— 1910. 



b. Average Duration of the Voyages to the Several Areas (Tables I, I f ). 



With regard to the duration of the voyage we shall deal only with the Steam Traw- 

 lers; and here it is a very curious circumstance (and to this again Mr. Archer has called 

 attention) that during our five years there has been a steady tendency in almost all areas 

 to a shortening of the time spent upon a voyage. The only areas in which the contrary 

 is the case are Cl and E, both of them areas of great extent, where the slightly longer 

 time now spent upon a voyage may in all probability be accounted for by a tendency to 

 frequent more distant parts of the area; but in many of the other areas it is scarcely 

 possible to assume that the shortened voyage corresponds to less distant fishing grounds. 

 The reason, in fact, is meanwhile unknown, but the fact is undoubted, and is certainly 

 contrary to what might be expected were there a real and prevalent scarcity of fish. 



For example, the average length of a trawling voyage to area B5, off the north-east 

 coast of Denmark, has fallen from 12.1 days in 1906 to 8.5 in 1910; that of voyages to 

 the Dogger Bank (Bi) from 7.9 days to 6.9; and to D3, off the north-west of Scotland, 

 from 13.2 days to 6.8. 



In all, the mean length (for the five years) of all the North Sea voyages of steam 



