SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 237 



in getting a good catch of these animals here, but on this 

 occasion, after a drag of one hour over about two miles of 

 ground, no shrimps whatever were found in the catch 

 made by the shrimp trawl net, though 173 small fishes 

 of the usual kinds, and the usual invertebrates, were 

 caught. Another haul was then made with the shrimp 

 trawl a little nearer the shore, and on this trial 576 small 

 fishes were caught, but only two shrimps. Fishermen 

 believe that when shrimps are so scarce as this they either 

 have migrated into deeper water, or they " dawk," that is, 

 bury themselves in the sand. To test this latter theory, a 

 shank net was put out, and dragged for another hour. 

 Fewer fishes were caught, as usually happens with a 

 shank net, but there were only three shrimps in the 

 catch, though it was evident, from the abundance of 

 Mactra and other molluscs taken, that the bar of the net 

 frame had been digging into the surface layer of the sand 

 on the bottom. The wind was blowing strongly from 

 E.N.E. at the time, and had been easterly generally for 

 the past eight days, and Captain Wignall attributed the 

 scarcity of shrimps to this prevalence of easterly winds. 



This scarcity of shrimps on Blackpool closed ground 

 has been noticed many times before in the observations 

 made by the "John Fell" and bailiff cutters. The 

 following observations may be quoted here : — 



Trawl May 31, 1895, no shrimps, 187 fishes, wind S., easy ; 



Do June 20, 1895, ,, 713 ,, ,, N.W., " whole sail " 



Shank Dec. 16, 1897, ,, 117 ,, ,, S.E., strong; 



Do. do. ,, 227 ,, ,, do. 



Trawl Dec. 22,1897, ,, 1916 ,, ,, S.S.E., easy; 



Do. do. ,, 1615 ,, ,, S.S.E., fresh; 



Do. Mar. 7, 189S, ,, 1027 ,, ,, N.E., easy; 



Do. do. ,, 1233 ,, ,, do. 



(This latter haul made with an extra chain on foot rope.) 



Do. Aug. 2, 1899, no shrimps, 1027 ,, ,, N.N. W., easy; 



Do. July 24, 1901, 3 shrimps, 980 ,, ,, N.E. ; 



2 shanks... May 30, 1904, no shrimps, 87 ,, ,, N.E. 



