SEA FISHERIES LABORATORY. 87 



Mr. Dawson tells us that the ground known as the 

 " Deposit Ground" lying between the Queen's and Horse 

 Channels, outside Burbo Bank, is also a place where young 

 flat-fish congregate in large numbers, as many as 10,000 

 having been obtained at a single haul of the shrimp trawl. 

 During the time the fish are on this ground there is a 

 great deal of trawling for shrimps with the usual des- 

 truction of immature flat-fish. 



We have drawn up from the statistics a series of tables 

 ho wing the takes of fish for each month in the year in 

 each of 4 areas into which we have divided the ground 

 trawled over, but we are of opinion that we require infor- 

 mation extending over several successive years before we 

 can come to reliable conclusions in regard to the move- 

 ments of the fish, and consequently we shall not publish 

 these tables now but retain them and add to them with the 

 view of having them incorporated, when more extensive, 

 in a future report. We have also " taken out" particular 

 fish — Plaice, Dab, Whiting — from the statistics and have 

 drawn up tables of their distribution, as shown by the 

 trawlings, in various parts of the district for each month. 

 These tables also we retain for further additions, but we 

 may at present draw the following tentative conclusions : — 



Plaice — Taking the three localities (a) Horse and 

 Kock Channels, (b) the Mersey estuary, and (c) Burbo and 

 North Banks, we find that the biggest hauls in all three 

 were in September and October, the average for the 3 or 

 4 winter months (November to February) was about 100 

 fish in each case, and the average for the 3 or 4 summer 

 months (June to September) was about 700 in each. Very 

 large hauls of young plaice (2 to 6 inches) are taken with 

 the shrimp net in August in the Horse Channel and the 

 Dee estuary. 



Dab — In the Horse Channel the largest hauls were in 



