ST ANDREWS BAY. SUMMARY. 129 



cannot be drawn " with regard to round fishes, which are more 

 numerous and migratory." But if his conclusions are based on 

 his half-periods, experience would show that it is during the 

 colder months of the year that cod, and haddocks, and whitings 

 most abound in St Andrews Bay, yet the uncertainty of fishing- 

 operations is again demonstrated by the fact that while the cod 

 and whiting were more numerous in the latter period, the had- 

 docks and gurnards were in the majority in the former period. 

 The highest average for haddocks took place in 1887, while 

 the lowest years were 1889 and 1890. 



The opinion expressed in regard to the cod in St Andrews 

 Bay in 1883 and 1884 was that it had almost disappeared, but 

 the examination during the latter year both in the bay and off 

 the rocks showed that this was at variance with facts. Indeed, 

 no sooner were the fishermen free to leave their lines baited 

 with anemones than cod were found in considerable numbers. 

 A single boat would bring from 30 to 80 cod as its share in a 

 bay that had been ''swept barren by trawlers." It was clear 

 that only the right season and the right bait were necessary to 

 secure fine cod as before. Year by year the same experience has 

 been met with. Lately (1898) even so limited an apparatus 

 as a salmon stake-net in June has captured at a single tide 

 upwards of 6 dozen cod from 14 to 27 inches, showing that 

 notwithstanding all the pessimistic views of those engaged in 

 the pursuit, the nomad shoals of the round fishes still assert 

 themselves. Besides, the yearly shoals of tiny young cod in 

 the bay in June show, by their unfailing regularity and 

 immense multitudes, that the methods of nature in the open 

 ocean are for the moat part beyond the influence of man, and 

 go on as before — unmindful alike of the fears of the timorous, 

 and the misapprehensions of those imperfectly acquainted with 

 the subject. 



If the averages on the stations in the closed area are 

 considered, the same result is apparent. No accumulation and 

 no encouraging increase are evident, but the lower and higher 

 numbers succeed each other in a way explicable only by the 

 irregularities and uncertainties of such operations. Thus the 

 average 175 in 1886, just after powerful steam- vessels and fleets 



M. R. 9 



