xxxviii 



Twenty-ninth Annual Report 



From the first of these two tables it will be seen that the catch of 

 round fish by liners is on the average only about one-tenth that of 

 the trawlers, and that the great bulk of the line catch consists of cod 

 and ling. The catch of the latter species by line has increased in 

 quite a remarkable fashion, the quantity so taken in 1910 being 

 nearly twice as great as that taken in 1905. This is due largely to 

 the replacement of sailing liners by steam liners, which are able to 

 fish the more distant grounds on the Atlantic side, where ling are 

 found in greater abundance than in the North Sea. The great bulk 

 of the trawl catch consists of haddocks, but it will be observed that 

 the proportion of haddocks in the total trawl catch, after rising from 

 49 per cent, in 1905 to 51 per cent, in 1908, fell to 38 per cent, in 

 1910. This movement was largely due to the fluctuation in the catch 

 of small haddocks. The great falling ofi" in the supply of haddocks 

 in 1910 was due principally to the unproductiveness of the north- 

 western grounds, whence the chief supplies of prime haddocks have 

 been brought during the last 15 years, although medium and small 

 haddocks were also found scarce on the usual North Sea grounds. The 

 bulk of the extra large, or "jumbo," haddocks are brought from the 

 Icelandic grounds. Line-caught haddocks consist almost entirely of 

 medium-sized fish, but if the decline depicted in the return continues 

 at the same rate, line-caught haddock will soon be scarce. It 

 will be observed that, while the trawled catch of both cod and codling 

 has increased, the increase has been much greater in the latter than 

 in the former, a circumstance which might be held to prove that this 

 species is being overfished. The figures relating to codling, however, 

 have been swollen at the expense of those relating to cod, owing to 

 the fact that since " filleting " was introduced, small cod, which at one 

 time were sold as cod, are now boxed and sold as codling, as they 

 bring higher prices for filleting purposes put up in that manner. 



In the second table the disparity between the line and trawl catch 

 is not nearly so marked, and is, moreover, steadily decreasing, the 

 proportion of line-caught fish in the total catch having risen from 18 

 to 26 per cent, since 1905, but the landings by line would be insigni- 

 ficant were it not for halibut, which constitute practically the whole 

 of the catch. The increase in line-caught halibut is due to the same 

 causes as have operated in the case of ling, and several steam-liners 

 now fish solely for halibut on the Atlantic grounds all the year round. 

 Lemon soles (taken entirely by trawlers) show a steady increase 

 during the period, due to the greater attention which has been paid 

 to the nearer grounds by short-voyage trawlers, and to the increased 

 productivity of the grounds north of Orkney, where, however, a large 

 proportion of the catch consists of small fish. Plaice, on the contrary, 

 are gradually declining, and as the decrease is most marked in large 

 plaice, while the quantity of small plaice taken has increased, there is 

 some reason to fear that this fish is becoming scarcer. The increase 

 observable in the supplies of trawled megrims and dabs is to some 

 extent due to the fact that the smallest class of fish, which formerly 

 were thrown back into the sea, are now landed and sold, while the 

 decline in witches is attributed in trawling circles to the impoverish- 

 ment of the Fladden Bank, which, when first discovered, yielded these 

 fish in great abundance. Turbot, the most highly esteemed of all flat 

 fish, show the serious falling off of 27 per cent, since 1905, for which 



