CAPTURES BY LINERS AND TRAWLERS, 1898. 81 



comparatively few hake come into the trawl, whereas the 

 liner perhaps obtains a larger number; that while the liner 

 brings the gurnards to shore and often eats them, they are 

 frequently thrown overboard by the trawler ; and that the 

 cat-fish (wolf-fish) is caught by both in considerable numbers, 

 but whereas, in certain trawlers, this fish is taken to port on 

 Tuesdays, it is thrown overboard at the end of the week. 



In 1893 the equivalent returns show that the liners brought 

 to land 1,136,389 cwts. of round fishes = £466,399, this being 

 93,419 cwts. and £50,125 less than last year. The most marked 

 deficiency was in haddocks, 69,766 cwts. and £85,092 ; cod, 

 54,260 cwts. and £20,661 ; and whiting, 15,381 and £5,741. 

 An increase had taken place both in line- and trawl-fishing 

 in the other round fishes, viz., ling, torsk, saithe, and in the 

 conger caught by line. How far this diminution was due 

 to the unfavourable weather of 1893 is an open question. It 

 certainly must have had some influence. The abundance of 

 very small haddocks is another fact to be remembered, since 

 many were not brought to shore, and they occupied hooks on 

 which larger fishes might have been caught. The trawlers 

 landed 309,862 cwts. of round fishes = £178,304, or 48,662 

 cwts. = £35,242 more than last year. With regard to flat- 

 fishes, the liners produced 57,149 cwts. = £43,306, or 4,685 

 cwts. and £48 more than last year ; the greatest increase, 5,594 

 cwts. and £566, having been in halibut, but these apparently 

 were largely caught in distant waters, such as off the coast of 

 Norway, Iceland, Faroe, and elsewhere, so that they confuse 

 the returns from British waters. An increase also exists in 

 "soles" (lemon-dabs) of 50 cwts. and £120. A slight decrease, 

 again, occurs in flounders, plaice, and brill. The trawlers 

 landed of flat fishes 71,024 cwts. = £89,781, a decrease of 604 

 cwts. and £7,243 on last year, this decrease being largely due 

 to the deficiency of lemon-dabs, viz., 6,133 cwts. and £8,448, 

 and a deficiency in turbot of 94 cwts. and £762, while an 

 increase occurred in halibut and a larger increase in flounders, 

 plaice, and brill, 5,197 cwts. and £1,597. This year skate form 

 a separate return, which shows that the liners produced 52,626 

 cwts. and £10,725, or 4,862 cwts. more than in 1892, yet with 



M. R. 6 



