FISHERY board's OPINION OF RESULTS, 1886. 109 



beyond. The very indefiniteness of the bay made it in some 

 respects a suitable contrast to the other areas. 



The closure of the inshore waters of the Moray Frith, from 

 Ord of Caithness to Kinnaird Head, was, however, substituted 

 for Aberdeen Bay on the responsibility of the Board, and a 

 series of stations for trawling marked off. As these had only 

 been trawled once in 1887 no conclusions could be given. 



Twelve stations were also marked off in the area of the 

 Clyde — "six stations from the eastern side of the Mull of 

 Cantyre to the entrance of Lock Eyan, three in Kilbrennan 

 Sound, and three in the main water-way between Arran and 

 the Ayrshire coast." A single series of trawlings were con- 

 ducted in the spring of 1887, and it was concluded that "the 

 flat fish of the Clyde are only about half as numerous as in 

 the Forth at the same period of the year." It was further 

 stated that this difference in the Friths was due to the pre- 

 vention of trawling in the one and its prosecution in the other. 



In referring to the numerical variation at different seasons 

 and the relative proportion of small fishes captured, the re- 

 porters observe that in the Frith of Forth in June and July, 

 1886, the round fishes were more numerous than the flat, but 

 that on all subsequent occasions the flat fishes were most 

 numerous — " There can be little doubt that this was very 

 largely owing to the suspension of trawling, which naturally 

 affects the flat fish more than the round." Further they found 

 that the adults of all the flat fishes were most numerous in 

 June in the Forth and St Andrews Bay, with the exception of 

 dabs in St Andrews Bay, which were rather more abundant in 

 May. They therefore concluded "that there was a general 

 movement of adult flat fish " into St Andrews Bay and the 

 Forth at that time. On the other hand, the small flat fishes in 

 the two localities were most abundant in August, with one 

 exception, viz., plaice in St Andrews Bay, which were most 

 numerous in October. They show, like the larger, a diminu- 

 tion in late autumn and in spring " probably from the same 

 cause." The reporters did not find the same uniformity among 

 the round fishes, and it is right to state that their deductions 

 were somewhat premature. 



