KJnr fishery statistics require to be summarised and illustrated in various ways be- 

 fore we can make use of the information they contain. In our first Scottish Report' 

 (p. 344) the methods of dealing with such statistics were in part discussed, and now that 

 we have information in hand for six consecutive years, it is time to deal with the matter 

 at greater length. Our tables tell us in the first place the amount of trawling done and 

 the quantity of each sort of fish obtained, by a large fleet of vessels, month by month 

 in various areas of the sea; and in the next place, when these quantities are reduced to 

 averages, we are told the average quantity in cwts. of each sort of fish caught in each 

 area per hundred hours' trawling. These averages become instructive when we compare 

 one with another, and we can do so in various ways. Firstly, for any given time, 

 we may compare the average catch of a particular fish in one area with another, and 

 so gain an insight into the local distribution or local difference in abundance of the 

 fish over various parts of the sea: and we can do so for any particular month, season 

 or year, or in a more general way by adding together the results of the months and 

 years we may arrive at an estimate of the general average distribution of any one fish 

 over all parts of the sea. Secondl}^ for any given place or area, we may compare 

 the average catch of a particular fish at one time or season with another, and so learn 

 its seasonal fluctuations, its seasons of scarcity and of abundance: and continuing this 

 investigation over several consecutive years, we learn how far this seasonal fluctuation is 

 a regularly repeated thing, and how far it has been subject to variations take place in 

 time and quantity, from year to year. 



Our statistics are by no means uniform. The Aberdeen trawlers resort in large 

 numbers to some parts of the sea, in small numbers to others, and there are large areas 

 of the North Sea in which they never fish. We must therefore look to the cooperation 

 of our international colleagues to supplement the information that we ourselves obtain. 

 Furthermore, while there are certain areas where our vessels fish at all seasons of the 

 year, there are others, for instance towards the north and north-east, to which they only 

 go at certain periods of the year, and yet again there are other areas where, though 

 fishing goes on more or less at all seasons, yet owing to the small and varying number 

 of vessels engaged, there are here and there many blanks in our statistics. Yet again 

 there are areas, especially on the west and north-west coasts, to which the Aberdeen boats 

 now resort in numbers, but where fishing was scanty or unknown five or six years ago 

 when our statistical work began. It follows that there are certain areas concerning which 



I Report on Fishery and H_ydrogniphical Investigations in tlie North Sea and adjacent Waters. 1905. 



