SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 83 



at seeing the fish pond there, and evidently regarded it as 

 a necessary addition to any hatchery. I wonld repeat 

 again what I stated to the Committee last year, that no 

 hatchery is complete without a spawning and rearing 

 pond, and that the want of one at Piel seriously impedes 

 Mr. Scott's operations. 



Trawling Results. 



We are now preparing for the hatching work of the 

 coming season, and once more we are indebted to the 

 courtesy of the Fishery Board for Scotland for permission 

 to trawl for large plaice in their closed waters of Luce 

 Bay. As before the Fishery Board asked us to make 

 observations and to give them a record of our results. 

 Two trips were made to Luce Bay in October and Novem- 

 ber and our Naturalists who accompanied the steamer 

 were able to make a series of interesting hauls on both 

 occasions. The results are fully discussed by Mr. John- 

 stone in his article on " Trawling Observations," which 

 will be found below. These results confirm those obtained 

 in 1902, and reinforce the conclusions which I drew in 

 last year's Eeport as to the remarkable differences in the 

 catches which may result from very slight differences in 

 the positions and conditions of the grounds trawled. The 

 bearing of these observations upon the danger of any 

 attempts to draw conclusions from samples taken 

 relatively far apart, even on areas where uniform condi- 

 tions are supposed to obtain, must be obvious. 



Mr. Johnstone also draws attention to the very large 

 average size of the plaice in the closed Scottish waters, 

 and shows how the much smaller size on the Lancashire 

 coast may be regarded as the natural result of constant 

 and practically unrestricted fishing. 



