SEA FISHERIES LABORATORY. 141 
1. That a number of ‘trawling stations” should be 
marked off on the chart of our district. The exact lines 
and extent of these for the first year’s work might con- 
veniently be fixed upon by Mr. Dawson and myself from 
our present knowledge of the area, the guiding idea being 
to investigate those spots where we have some reason to 
think that food fishes congregate at some season for a 
special purpose such as spawning or feeding. The Black- 
pool ‘“‘closed ground” would naturally be one station, 
another might be the ‘‘ Horse Channel” or ‘‘ Hilbre Swash,”’ 
and a couple should be weli out to sea, on the off-shore 
spawning grounds. These ‘trawling stations” should be 
lines the extremities of which are determined by obser- 
vations of parallax on shore, (“‘cross bearings”’) or from 
buoys or other fixed points, so that as far as possible the 
same line and the same extent of ground should be trawled 
over in each observation. 
2. It should be the rule that (weather permitting) each 
station (A, B, C, &c.) should be trawled over at least once 
amonth. It would be still more satisfactory, if it could 
be so arranged, that each station should be trawled over 
twice a month in opposite states of the tide, as it is very 
important in comparing such periodical observations with 
one another, that the conditions under which they are 
made should be similar. By this plan there would be a 
series of monthly observations at each station at flood tide 
and another series at ebb tide. 
3. In taking each observation I would recommend that 
the following course of procedure be followed :— 
a, the ship is brought to one end of the Station and stopped, 
b, a white enamelled disc for testing the transparency of 
the water 1s lowered over the side by means of a line 
on which quarter fathoms are marked and the depth 
at which the disc disappears is noted, 
