100 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



TRAWLING OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS. 

 By Jas. Johnstone. 



(1) Six Hauls in Luce Bay, o 11 

 October 26th, 1903. 



By permission of the Fishery Board for Scotland the 

 Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee's 

 steamer was enabled to make a series of hauls with a 

 trawl-net in the preserved waters of Luce Bay, on October 

 26th, 1903. The primary object of these trawling opera- 

 tions was to obtain a stock of mature living plaice for the 

 Committee's Sea-Fish Hatchery at Piel. Advantage was 

 taken, however, of the opportunity thus afforded to com- 

 pare the results usually obtained by fishing on the plaice 

 grounds within the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries 

 area, where trawling is permitted under certain restric- 

 tions, with those obtainable by fishing in waters strictly 

 preserved against all forms of trawling. In order 

 to obtain the fish in as healthy a condition as possible a 

 series of short hauls were made with a rather small trawl- 

 net of 30 feet beam, and with 7 inch meshes throughout. 

 By using such a net a very limited number of inverte- 

 brates were captured, and few small fish were obtained. 

 The smallest plaice obtained in any of the hauls was 8| 

 inches in extreme length. The results of these hauls are 

 given in the table on following page. 

 Physical observations during the hauls. 



Wind, S.W., light; 



Sea, smooth ; 



Weather, unsettled ; 



Barometer, 29*4 to 29-6 inches ; 



Air temperature, 10°'5 C. to 11°6 C. ; 



