of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



27 



lasted amounted to 785, and of these 556 were marketable and 229 

 unmarketable. Very few haddocks were obtained, the total being three, 

 all marketable ; the chief fishes were cod, of which fifty were got, codling, 

 plaice, and flounders. In the other haul 690 fishes were obtained, 570 

 being marketable. On this occasion also the marketable fishes consisted 

 for the most part of cod, codling, plaice, and flounders, while only six 

 haddocks were taken. 



The aggregate for the two hauls here, the actual fishing lasting eight 

 hours and fifteen minutes, was 1474, or an average per hour of 178 7. 

 The marketable fishes numbered 1126, an average of 136*5 per hour, 

 and the unmarketable 348, giving an average of 42*2. The flat-fishes 

 greatly preponderated, 1134, or an average of 137*4, being caught, as 

 compared with 327 round-fishes, with an average of 39*6. All the round- 

 fishes were marketable, and they comprised the large number of 1 27 cod, 

 172 codling, five coal-fish, and twelve cat-fish, but only nine haddocks 

 and two whitings. The flat-fishes included 524 plaice, all marketable 

 except nine (the average of the former being 62*4), 350 common dabs, 

 and 243 flounders. 



Although the catches here were good, the fishing was carried on at some 

 expense of gear, and a shift was made to the north-east, off Tarbet Ness, 

 where three drags were taken in from twenty to twenty-six fathoms of 

 water. In the first, which occupied four hours and thirty-five minutes, 

 only 222 fishes were taken, 174 marketable, but the net was slightly split. 

 In the next haul 449 were caught, of which 130 were marketable, and in 

 the third 259, the marketable numbering 161. The chief fish taken in 

 this locality was cod, 142 being obtained. 



Taking the two perfect hauls, the time of actual fishing being eight 

 hours and ten minutes, the number of fishes secured was 708, the average 

 per hour being 86*6. The number of marketable was 291, with an aver- 

 age of only 35*6, and the unmarketable 417, with an average of 51*0 

 The total included 137 plaice, 124 cod, 201 haddocks, of which only 

 sixteen were marketable, sixteen whitings, all unmarketable, and a few 

 others. 



The quantity of fish landed from this trip amounted to 140| cwts., as 

 follows : — 



Cod. Codling. Ling. Coal-fish. Haddock. Turbot. Halibut. Brill. 

 81 b\ 1£ 2 3£ \ \ | 



Lemon Dab. Plaice. Dabs. Megrim. Flounder. Cat-fish. Skates. 

 2| 28| If \ 4£ 5 5 



III. 



From the 8th to the 13th of June another series of trawlings was 

 made on board the " Drumblair," the places visited being Burghead Bay, 

 the grounds off Lossiemouth, the Dornoch Firth, the ground off Lybster, 

 Smith Bank, and Aberdeen Bay, twenty-two hauls being recorded. 



The fishing in Burghead Bay, where three drags were made on the 

 8th and 9th, was very poor, the total number of fish taken being only 

 560, of which 203 were marketable, the duration of the fishing being six 

 hours and forty minutes. In one of the hauls the net was slightly torn, 

 and in the other two, lasting for four hours and forty minutes, 390 were 

 caught, 125 of them being marketable. The average per hour at this 

 time in Burghead Bay was 84*1, the average for the marketable being 

 only 30 5. The catch consisted chiefly of plaice ; only one cod, two cod- 

 lings, a single haddock, and three whitings were caught. An explana- 



4& 



