142 



INVESTIGATIONS IN FORTH, 1890. 



The adding of new stations during the progress of the inquiry 

 was also perhaps unnecessary, and thus for example Station X., 

 which was arranged for in 1892, has simply been struck out of 

 the reckoning. 



The comparison of the closed with the open area, that is, 

 of the stations beyond the limit with those within it has always 

 appeared to produce slender results, and accordingly it has not 

 been deemed necessary to allude to it. 



The foremost place was held by the whiting with a total of 

 5,545 or 70 per haul, of which 5,093 were saleable and 452 un- 

 saleable. Large numbers of young whitings had been observed in 

 the Forth and neighbourhood by the " Garland " in the autumn 

 of 1889. Dr Fulton, indeed, computed the immense shoal in 

 territorial waters to reach at least 230,000,000 individuals 

 between 3 and 5 inches in length. Nor is this condition to be 

 considered as exceptional. The young whitings come inshore 

 from the more distant grounds where the majority pass their 

 early stages in similar shoals annually in autumn, but they are 

 not always discovered, and probably may often be much more 

 scattered. Very considerable captures of saleable whitings were 

 also made in 1884 south of the estuary of the Forth, no less 

 than 1,522 being brought up in a single haul of the trawl on 

 the 7th February, 1884\ so that the general diminution of this 

 species is by no means proved. Trawl-fishermen consider, 

 moreover, that the whiting is a species less apt to come in the 

 way of the net than such as the haddock, since it often feeds 

 higher in the water, a fact borne out by its active habits and 

 piscivorous tastes. Besides, capture by hook or by trawl some- 

 times gives but an indifferent view of the number of fishes on 

 an area. Of the foregoing total of 5,545 whitings no less than 

 3,095 were between 7 and 9 inches in length — captured in the 

 following months : — 



No. of 







No. of 







Hauls 







Hauls 







9 



February 



25 



6 



August 



182 



9 



March 



38 



5 



September 



608 



9 



April 



133 



9 



October 



1494 



9 



May 



174 



7 



November 



449 



7 



July 



321 



9 



December 



480 



Report Royal Commission on Traivling, p. 389. 



