SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 219 



The other fish eggs range from January to August 

 inclusive, with a maximum of about 20 per haul in the 

 bay during March and April. Out at sea during April 

 the average per haul is about 36, the largest hauls being 

 62 per net on April 10th and 63 per net on April 27th. 



A haul of the large Nansen net on April 12th secured 



1,059 fish eggs, and 2,470 on April 24th. Both these 



hauls were outside the bay, and the eggs caught were as 



follows : — 



April 12 April 24 



Rockling 750 650 



Bib 25 300 



Whiting 230 1,500 



Dab 50 



Sail-fluke 20 



Plaice 4 



COMPAKISON OF NETS AND CATCHES. 



There is little, if anything, to add as to the catching 

 power of the different nets to what we have written in the 

 previous parts of this report. It may just be worth 

 noting that : — 



In our experimental hauls from the yacht the coarse 

 net consistently caught from twice to ten times as much 

 as the fine, both in spring and autumn. 



The two nets fitted with Otter boards and towed well 

 forward in the ship, so as not to be affected by the 

 propeller, agreed fairly well in their results with one 

 another, and with the fine net at the stern. There is 

 nothing to add under this head to what we have already 

 said. 



With the small (35 cm. diameter) closing Nansen net, 

 we find that when two hauls are taken together, one 

 from 20 to 10 fathoms, and the other from 20 fathoms to 

 the surface, the latter in many cases gives, as would be 

 expected, the larger volume of plankton, such as, April 



