of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



15 



Seine-Net Fishing for Herrings. 



The alleged injurious action of the seine-net in the herring fishing 

 has been for some time under investigation with the view of ascer- 

 taining whether the two principal objections urged against this 

 mode of fishing — namely, the wasteful destruction of the herring 

 spawn deposited on the bottom, and of immature herrings — are well 

 founded. For several years, as stated in previous Eeports, arrange- 

 ments were made to conduct an investigation on the former point 

 at the well-known spawning ground, Ballantrae Bank, oft 1 the coast 

 of Ayrshire, but, owing to the very poor fishing, seine-net boats 

 scarcely took part in it. In the spring of this year the herrings re- 

 appeared on the bank in considerable numbers, and a few seine-net 

 boats for a short time took part in the fishing. So far as the 

 limited opportunity offered, no evidence was found to prove that 

 the seine-net caused wasteful destruction of the spawn deposited 

 on the bottom. On the other hand, a considerable proportion of 

 small herrings were captured, much more than by the trammel- 

 nets. In Loch Fyne the capture of immature herrings by the seine- 

 net was investigated during the last two seasons, very numerous 

 catches being examined at various periods and parts of the loch. 

 While it was found that in many cases the proportion of small 

 herrings taken was considerable, and that occasionally quite 

 immature herrings may be destroyed by this mode of fishing, the 

 evidence does not point to the destruction being unnecessarily 

 wasteful or injurious to the permanence of the supply of herrings 

 in the loch. Such results are incident to all modes of fishing ; 

 and the almost unprecedented abundance of herrings in Loch Fyne 

 during the last two seasons shows that the operation of the seine- 

 net in past years has not had the injurious effects on the permanence 

 of the supply that have sometimes been attributed to it. 



The Bate of Growth of Plaice. 



In the present Beport Mr. H. Dannevig describes the results of 

 an enquiry into the rate of growth of the plaice, based upon 

 measurements of a large number of specimens of different sizes 

 captured at various periods of the year. It is shown that the 

 average growth of the plaice is about three inches each year, so 

 that at the end of the first year it attains a length of three inches, 

 in the second year an average length of six and a quarter inches, 

 and in the third year a length of nine and a quarter inches. It 

 was also found that growth is practically arrested during the winter 

 months, the fishes increasing in size chiefly from May to October. 



On the Natural History of the Herring. 



In the present Beport Mr. Kyle gives an account of the pro- 

 longed and laborious investigations of Professor Heincke, of the 



