160 



Part III. — -Twenty-fourth Annual Report 



between Broughty-Ferry and Tayport. On several occasions the 

 I) rough ty- Ferry men drifted for winter herring as far up the estuary as 

 the Tay Bridge, while the sprat men were several times from \ to 2 miles 

 below Tayport. 



During the course of this season's fishing 40 samples of mixed sprats, 

 young herrings, and other fishes were bought and examined. The samples 

 consisted of : — 



Young Herrings, 



. 17,115, 



from 



4-3cm. 



to I7"5cm 



Sprats, 



. 8,539, 



• ? 



45 „ 



to 14-6 ,, 



Young Sparlings, 



600, 



n 



4-2 „ 



to 15 0 ,. 



,, Whiting, 



398, 



)? 



7'9 „ 



to 19-9 „ 



„ Cod, . 



215, 



55 



7'2 „ 



to 16-0 ,, 



,, Plaice, . 



54, 



)? 



4-3 „ 



to 15 0 „ 



,, Dabs, . 



50, 





3-8 



to 13-0 „ 



,, Flounders. 



19, 



5) 



5-0 „ 



to 10 0 



., Saithe, . 



17, 





12-0 ., 



to 16 0 ,. 





27,007 









Agonus cataphradus, . . . . 109 



Ammodytes tobianus, ..... 70 



Liparis montagui, . . . . 70 



Gobius minutus, . . . . . . 70 



Syngnathus, sp., . . . . . . 9 



Cottus scorpius, ...... 7 



Gasterosteus spinackia, . . 4 



Gentronotus gunnellus, .... 3 



Gasterosteus aculeatus, . 1 



Petromyzon Jluviatilis, .... 1 



344 



The numbers of young cod, whiting, plaice, dabs, flounders, and saithe 

 are somewhat larger than is shown in the above Table, owing to the fact 

 that the daily catches are to some extent picked before and sometimes 

 after being brought into the Dundee Tidal Harbour. Large quantities of 

 leaves, rushes, and weeds of all kinds also enter the nets, and even 

 branches of trees, which sometimes cause great damage to the nets, and 

 the picking and throwing overboard of this rubbish and of the young 

 fish entails a great amount of labour to the men. 



During the first half of the month of November, while the fish were 

 abundant and the percentage of sprats remained over 70, the number of 

 other fishes caught along with the sprats was quite insignificant. 



A typical unpicked sample of the fish consisting of : — 



Sprats, 1057 



Young Herring, . . . . . . 86 



,, Saithe, ...... 1 



Agonus cataphradus, ..... 1 



Shrimps, 1 



1146 



The above sample represents about one-seventeenth part of a cran. 



