46 



Appendices to Fifth Annual Report 



The ' Garland ' having been equipped and manned [the crew, consisting 

 of a master, two fishermen (one an experienced trawler), an engineer and 

 stoker, an ordinary seaman, a steward, and a boy], began the regular 

 trawling work, on the 16th of June. The station I. (Plate I.) which lies 

 to theN.E. of Inchkeith, generally known as the Roost, was first examined. 

 The trawl was let down about a mile east of Inchkeith, and carried 

 along the bottom for a distance of six and a half miles. When the 

 trawl was hauled in, after being four hours at work, it was found to 

 contain over a hundred haddocks, about 60 flat fish (plaice and dabs), 

 3 small cod, 40 whiting, 12 gurnards, and a single skate, and in addition 

 a number of sea urchins, starfish, mussels, scallops, crabs, and other 

 invertebrates. With the tow net the water over Station L was found to 

 contain medusas (jelly fish), copepods (small Crustacea), and other pelagic 

 forms. Later in the same evening Station II. was examined. This 

 station (Plate I.) lies 2 miles off shore in the north bay, between 

 West Wemyss and Leven, and extends in an easterly direction for 

 about four and a half miles. The bottom consists of mud and stones, 

 but towards the east end there is fine sand. After trawling for two 

 and a half hours, only 18 fish in all were captured — 10 flat fish and 8 

 round. In addition to the fish there were, as before, sea urchins, starfish, 

 mussels, crabs, and also whelks, anemones, and ascidians. 



On the following day Stations III. and VII. were examined in the 

 same manner, and on the 22nd June all the nine stations in the Forth had 

 been investigated for the first time. The ' Garland ' proceeded next to St 

 Andrews Bay, and after trawling over the five stations indicated in the 

 chart (Plate I.), steamed north to Aberdeen, and began the examination 

 of the Bay on the 6th of July. Having trawled over the six stations in 

 Aberdeen Bay, she returned to Granton, and on the 19th July was 

 again at work, examining for the second time the Forth Stations. In 

 the meantime it had been arranged only to visit Stations I. and IV. in the 

 Forth at long intervals — once perhaps in every three months — so as to 

 give the fish every possible chance to increase in numbers and in size ; 

 hence, during the second visit of the ' Garland ' to the Forth, these two 

 stations were left undisturbed, as were also, for other reasons, Stations V., 

 VIII., and IX. After visiting St Andrews Bay, the ' Garland ' proceeded 

 to Aberdeen, and made arrangements for making a short cruise in the 

 Moray Firth, in order to ascertain as far as possible whether it might be 

 desirable at a future time to extend the trawling experiments by closing 

 certain portions of the territorial waters in that Firth. During this 

 cruise we were able to arrange for a series of physical observations being 

 made under the direction of Mr Hugh R. Mill, I). Sc., but the Board has 

 not included in the Appendix the valuable paper dealing with these 

 observations. After returning from the Moray Firth the • Garland ' was 

 only able to examine the various stations in the three closed areas twice 

 before we were compelled, for want of funds, to suspend the trawling 

 portion of the work until the beginning of another financial year. On the 

 25th of April, the trawling operations were again resumed, and it is hoped 

 it may be possible, with the larger sum now voted for the maintenance of 

 the 1 Garland,' to continue the work without interruption throughout the 

 greater part of the year. While the trawling operations were in progress, 

 one |or both of us visited at intervals the various restricted areas, and 

 Professor M'Intosh frequently joined the ' Garland ' when at work in St 

 Andrews Bay. 



The ! Garland 1 having been fitted out, we next directed our attention to 

 the collection of statistics showing the daily take of fish within and 

 in the vicinity of the closed areas. This proved an extremely difficult 



