82 REVIEW OF TRAWLING REPORT OF 1884. 



injured that, although they had been returned to the water, it 

 is doubtful if they would have survived. 



The remarks made then (1884) on the capture of very young 

 cod and very young haddocks, therefore, remain suitable for 

 to-day, and at this moment (Oct. 6, 1898) numerous boxes of 

 young cod about 10 inches in length come from the lines on 

 the hard ground near Grail ; and the same may be said of 

 those on whiting, ling, hake, gurnards, coal-fishes, pollack, bib, 

 and poor-cod. 



In the Trawling Report it was stated that large cod and 

 other adult fishes were now seldom caught within the limits 

 of the Bay of St Andrews, and this was in accordance with 

 the evidence then obtainable. The use of anemones as bait, 

 together with the closure of the bay, shows that as many as 

 sixty or eighty good cod are occasionally caught by a single 

 boat, the lines being buoyed and left in the water all night. 

 Some fine congers, which do not appear in the Fishery returns, 

 are also occasionally obtained off the east rocks. Moreover, 

 excellent haddocks are procured in the same area early in 

 the year, and for two years (1893 and 1894) small haddocks 

 abounded. Large green cod also occasionally leap out of the 

 water in pursuit of their prey, and are captured on the beach, 

 while a few pollack are got in the salmon-stake nets or on 

 hooks. It would thus appear that further experience leads to 

 a modification of the statement in the Trawling Report. The 

 increase in numbers captured has been due less to the closure 

 and absence of molestation than to the fixed and extensive 

 lines and special bait. 



The closure of the inshore waters — e.g., St Andrews Bay — 

 must have conduced to the prosperity of the turbot and the 

 brill of that neighbourhood, most of the turbot (ranging from 

 9-11 inches) which formerly were captured by the trawlers 

 (sailing- and steam-) now being unmolested, and reaching the 

 outer waters when of some size. The salmon stake-nets, how- 

 ever, on sandy beaches still prove destructive to many turbot 

 from 5 J inches upwards. These small examples of this valuable 

 fish are only used as bait for crab-pots. It is true the trawlers 

 sweep the outer waters into which the young turbot and brill 



