21 — 



D'ARCY W. THOMPSON 



The Haddock. 



Haddock arc divided in the Aberdeen market into four classes, known as Extra 

 Large, Large, Medium and Small, to which of recent years a fifth class of Extra Small 

 fish is sometimes added. The average size of these five groups of fish is about 24, 16, 

 14, 12 and 9 inches, or 60, 40, 35, 30 and 23 centimetres. The Extra Large Haddock 

 come in great quantities from Iceland and Faeroe, whence come the largest fish of all. 

 The largest Haddock that we have measured from Faeroe was 82 centimetres, or 33 

 inches, and the largest from Iceland was 89 centimetres, or just about a yard long. Off 

 the east coast of Scotland and in the middle North Sea grounds. Haddock of this extra 

 large class are rare, but a certain number come from Shetland, from the western grounds, 

 and from the south-eastern grounds, from which the largest specimens measured are 

 from 75 to 77 centimetres long, or about 2 feet 6 inches. About half of all the fish 



Fig. 24. Extra Large Haddock. 



Iceland 

 Faeroe . 



~^2-ï North Sea Average . r6j 



Iceland 

 Faeroe. 



Fig. 25. Large Haddock. 



North Sea Average. 59-2 



classed as Extra Large are from 22 to 25 inches long, and about half the Large Haddock 

 lie between 15 and 17 inches; in like manner one half of the Small Haddock lie between 

 II and 13 inches. 



In figure 24 are shown the average catches of Extra Large Haddock in our various 

 areas. The largest average, of 10 or 12 cwts. pr. 100 hours' fishing, is found in the 

 areas off the north-west of Scotland ; next we have average catches of three or four cwts. 

 in the south-eastern grounds, from the Holmen Ground, and sometimes (though of these 

 our Scotch statistics seldom give us information) on the Dogger Bank. Over the greater 

 part of the North Sea the mean catch is somewhere about one cwt., and off" the east 

 coast off Scotland it is only a small fraction of that amount. Taking all our North Sea 

 areas together, the average catch throughout the year of these Extra Large Haddock may 

 be roughly stated at 1^/2 cwts. per 100 hours' fishing. At Faeroe the average catch is 

 33 cwt., and at Iceland it reaches the great figure of 290 cwt. per 100 hours' fishing. 



