56 PROCEDUEE OF FISHERY BOARD. 



After a very brief experience, however, the Fishery Board 

 ceased to examine the last area on the ground that " it has been 

 impossible to obtain accurate statistics owing to the limited 

 nature of the area closed, and for the reason that the takes 

 of the ' Garland ' have been extremely variable, and the results 

 have not been considered of sufficient importance to warrant 

 Aberdeen Bay being further closed for experimental purposes." 

 There can be little doubt that the cessation of experiments in 

 Aberdeen Bay arose from a misapprehension. 



Carefully considered advice had been given to the Fishery 

 Board by Lord Dalhousie, and he had exerted himself to procure 

 the necessary supplies for carrying out the experiments in the 

 selected areas — which he, as Secretary for Scotland, by and by 

 closed. These experiments were to form the basis for future 

 fishery legislation, and, therefore, their importance was beyond 

 question. 



For the carrying out of the experiments, the Fishery Board, 

 possibly from lack of funds, deviated from the fundamental 

 advice given, viz. that a powerful ship (like a first-class trawler) 

 capable of carrying a 50-foot beam, and fit to proceed to sea in 

 rough weather, should be procured, together with a smaller 

 steam-vessel or tender for inshore work. The Board unfor- 

 tunately selected an inefficient ship — both as regards the 

 eastern seas and the manipulation of a trawl of sufficient size 

 to search the grounds in an effectual manner. This has more 

 or less crippled the experiments, especially as the work has 

 only been conducted by day, and as a rule by a statistical, not 

 a fishery expert, on board. 



In carrying out the experiments lines were selected in the 

 various closed areas, and along these the 'Garland' worked at 

 intervals. Unfortunately, no regularity as to date, so important 

 in making comparisons year by year, was maintained. This 

 trawling along lines was the advice of the Trawling Commission, 

 but the selection of them in the particular areas was left to the 

 Board. At this moment the author is inclined to think that it 

 would have been as well to make loops in stated parts of the 

 areas so as to allow greater freedom in connection with wind 

 and tide. Indeed, it may be a question whether perfect 



