INVESTIGATIONS IN FORTH, 1892. 153 



Like the dabs, the majority of the long-rough dabs were un- 

 saleable. Thus out of a total of 2,274 or 22 per haul, 782 or 

 7 per haul were saleable and 1,492 or about 15 per haul un- 

 saleable. The two species just mentioned have always held a 

 prominent place amongst the unsaleable forms in trawling, but 

 neither is a fish of great importance in the market, though dabs 

 are excellent food. They take a conspicuous position, however, 

 as the food of other fishes. In most respects the captures of 

 the long-rough dabs coincided with those of the previous year. 



Gurnards reached the highest number yet met with in the 

 Forth, viz. a total of 1,944 or 19 per haul. Of this number 

 1,234 or 12 per haul were saleable and 710 or 7 per haul un- 

 saleable. There was no sign of any special accumulation of 

 such a species by the closure, for it varied much both before 

 restriction and subsequently \ 



The total for the whiting was 1,898 or 19 per haul — two 

 below last year. The saleable were 740 or 7 per haul, and the 

 unsaleable 1,158 or about 11 per haul, in both cases contrasting 

 with the condition the previous year, in which only 3 per haul 

 were unsaleable and 18 per haul saleable. The maximum of 

 the saleable whitings was in January, but, as for the last two 

 years, the maximum for all sizes was in October, this being due 

 to the capture of 505 unsaleable young forms of the season as 

 they were seeking the inshore waters. 



There were 951 lemon-dabs or 9 per haul, only a fifth of the 

 number captured in 1887, and one under last year. They were 

 nearly equally divided between saleable and unsaleable. The 

 total for cod was 841 or 8 per haul, the same as in 1886, and 

 the lowest figure on the list. All were saleable, and 105 were 

 large cod. A single sea-trout of 9^ in. was captured. Single 

 examples of this species, as a rule, when about 10 or 11 inches 

 in length, are procured in herring-nets — sometimes 25 miles 

 or more from land. 



Most of the stations showed a reduction in the average per 

 haul. The following had an increase, viz. Y. of 61, YI. of 7, 

 YII. of 11, YIII. of 32, and IX. of 21. 



^ One of the somewhat numerous slips in the S. F. B. Keports has it that 

 "Gurnards" showed a considerable falling off (1892, p. 25). 



