_ 5 — DARCV \V. II-IOMPSON 



has been already said, ihat lor some of tlie areas we have all too little information, but 

 nevertheless the results for most areas rest on a sound basis, and the whole is worth 

 something as a first approximation. 



The average catch of Cod by Aberdeen trawlers in all parts of the North Sea where 

 they habitually work (say north of 55° N.) during the years 1901 — 06 was somewhere 

 about 24 cwt. per 100 hours' fishing (See Fig. i). This quantity is greatly exceeded off 

 the north and northwest of Scotland, where in the neighbourhood of the Orkneys the 

 average catch was about 50 cwts., westward of the Orkneys in the neighbourhood of 

 Rona, Sule Skerry and Cape Wrath from 75 to 80 cwts., and further west about the 

 Lewes over 100 cwts. These quantities are again greatly exceeded at Faeroe (165 cwts.) 

 and Iceland (688 cwts.). Over the North Sea itself the average quantities vary compara- 

 tively little, but they are high at Shetland (38 cwts.), off the mouth of the Skagerrack 

 (31 cwts.). They would seem to be least off the East Coast of Scotland, off the coast 

 of Denmark, and also (though here information is defective) to the north-east, towards 

 the deep water of the Norwegian Channel. 



Fig. I. Cod. Mean catch in cwts. per 100 hrs. 



trawling. 1901 — 06. 

 Iceland 688 Faeroe 166 



Fig. 2. Codling. Mean catch per 100 hrs. trawling. 



1 901 — 06. 

 Iceland 44 Faeroe 164 



The mean catch of Codling by Aberdeen trawlers would appear to be about 14 cwts. 

 per 100 hours' fishing in the North Sea, and about twice as great or more off the north- 

 west coast of Scotland. The numbers at Iceland and Faeroe are again much greater 

 than for any of our home waters, and at Faeroe we reach the high average of 164 cwts. 

 The numbers at Iceland are much less than at Faeroe, viz. 44 ctws., but this is probably 

 in part, if not wholly, to be accounted for by the fact that the trawlers making the 

 more distant voyages do so in quest of the larger fish, and neglect or throw overboard 

 great quantities of small. 



The numbers in the neighbourhood of the Fisher Bank would seem to be less than 

 on most other parts of the North Sea, but on the whole the differences in different 

 parts of the sea are neither great nor regular enough to carry much weight. 



In fig. 3 are shown the average catches of Cod in what is on the average the best 



