SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 169 



II. is one of the largest hauls made on the ground. 

 IT. is one of the smallest. It will be seen later, however, 

 that the hauls made on the ground dealt with in IV. differ 

 considerably from those made near the Deposit Buoy. 



The actual data considered here are given on Tables I. 

 and II. Of the various species of edible fish enumerated 

 above only 4 are dealt with — the sole, plaice, dab, and 

 whiting. Consequently the totals under the heading 

 lk Total numbers of fish" are not the sums of the numbers 

 representing the catches of the four fishes mentioned. 

 Those sums are less than the totals by the numbers of fish 

 of various kinds which are not tabulated. For each of 

 the years 1893-99 the tables give (1) the number of hauls 

 made during each month, (2) the total number of fish 

 caught in all the hauls and the average number of fish 

 caught per haul, (3) the total number of quarts of shrimps 

 caught in all the hauls and the average catch per haul, 

 (4) the total number of each of the four kinds of fishes 

 caught in all the hauls and the average numbers caught 

 per haul. 



Table I. deals with the observations made on a portion 

 only of the whole Mersey shrimping ground. Most of the 

 hauls have been made within two miles of the Deposit 

 Buoy, that is on the shallow water immediately behind 

 Burbo Bank. A few were made in a small portion of the 

 Hock Channel (see Chart, p. 171). 



Table II. gives the hauls made in the deeper water of 

 the Channels — part of Hock Channel, Horse Channel, 

 Queen's and Crosby Channels. The division of the whole 

 ground into these two sub-divisions is not quite natural 

 since all the Rock "Channel ought, strictly speaking, to 

 have been dealt with "in Table II. But it was found 

 convenient for various reasons to include the eastern 

 portion of Rock Channel m Table I. 



