of the Fishery Board for l^cotland. 



XXV 



previous year of 7682 cwts. and £2643. They are taken by all the 

 methods of capture commonly employed, but by far the largest pro- 

 portion of the catch is secured by trawlers. During the year under 

 review, however, these vessels were much less successful than in 1909, 

 their contribution having fallen from 45,275 cwts. to 37,728 cwts., 

 with a corresponding decrease in value of £2493. This decline, 

 amounting, as it does, to 17 per cent., is sufficiently serious, but it is 

 difficult to assign any reason for it beyond the obvious one that plaice 

 are becoming scarcer on the regular trawling grounds. The catch by 

 line (9908 cwts., valued at £8594) also exhibits a slight decrease of 

 571 cwts., which is, however, neutralised by an increase in the quantity 

 taken by net (3659 cwts., valued at £3856, as against 3223 cwts. and 

 £3546 in 1909). The trawl catch constituted 73 per cent, of the 

 total, and was divided between the vessels working from Aberdeen 

 and Leith in, roughly, the ratio of 2 : 1. 



Halibut. 



From the point of view of quantity, plaice are followed in import- 

 ance by halibut, and during 1910 the total quantity marketed was 

 49,620 cwts., as against 49,319 cwts. in 1009. Halibut fishing is still 

 largely in the hands of the line fishermen, principally because these 

 fish are, as a rule, most plentiful on ground unsuited to trawling ; but 

 during the year under review the trawl catch made a further encroach- 

 ment upon the line-fishing returns, the quantity referable to each 

 method of capture being 12,026 cwts. and 37,594 cwts. respectively, 

 as against 10,834 cwts. and 38,485 cwts. in 1909. As the great bulk 

 of the catch is landed by the steam liners and trawlers working from 

 Aberdeen, the explanation of this probably lies in the fact that 

 trawlers made 188 more arrivals during 1910 than in 1909, while the 

 arrivals of steam liners, on the contrary, numbered 79 less. From the 

 financial point of view, halibut fishing in 1910 was eminently success- 

 ful, the total value of £96,388 representing an increase of £12,368 

 upon the figures for the preceding year ; and as line fishermen, not- 

 withstanding their slightly diminished catch, appropriated 77 per 

 cent, of this increase, they had every reason to congratulate them- 

 selves on the success of the year's operations. 



Lemon Soles. 



Lemon soles are landed almost wholly by trawlers, and in 1910 

 Aberdeen, Leith, and Dundee, in the ratio of 12 : 4: 1, accounted for 

 practically the entire catch of 44,256 cwts., which showed an increase 

 of 3101 cwts. upon the 1909 returns. The total sum realised was 

 £80,393, or £5766 in excess of the total for the preceding year. 



Flounders. 



Like halibut, flounders are still chiefly caught by line, and during 

 1910 59 per cent, of the total catch of 12,988 cwts. was obtained by 

 that method. An appreciable quantity, however, is also secured by 

 means of nets, and the combined catch by line and net accounted for 

 76 per cent, of the total. On the other hand, trawled flounders 



