18 



Part III. — Seventeenth Annual Report 



1. The Trawling Investigations in the Moray Firth. 



The means taken to ascertain the influence of the closure of the 

 Moray Firth to beam trawlers with respect to the abundance of the food 

 fishes within it have consisted, first, of trawling observations of the 

 "Garland" at the sixteen stations, offshore and inshore; and, secondly, 

 the collection of special statistics around the coast of the firth to show 

 the quantities of fish caught within the closed area by line fishermen 

 in each month of the year, and the number of "shots" of the lines by 

 which these fishes were captured. During last year the trawling 

 investigations were made in May, June, October, and November. The 

 work in the latter months was much interrupted by stormy weather, 

 many of the stations lying at a considerable distance from shore, where 

 i.he " Garland " requires fairly settled weather in order to be able to 

 carry on the work. The details of the various hauls will be found in the 

 Tables appended (Table C, A.). 



The average numbers of the various kinds of flat-fishes caught per haul 

 of the net are as follows : — 



Station. 



Plaice. 



Lemon 

 Soles. 



Witches. 



Common 

 Dab. 



L. Rough 

 Dab. 



Turbot. 



Brill. 



Total. 



1 



25-3 



0-3 





124-0 









1497 



2 



11-0 



2-3 



2 : 3 



17-4 



5-0 







38-0 



3 



23-3 



4-0 





4-3 









31-7 



4 



97-3 



1-0 





264-3 









362-7 



5 



377 



33 



0-3 



188-7 



3 : 0 







233-0 



6 



367 



i'S 





116-3 





0-3 





154-3 



7 





5-0 



3 : 0 



123-0 



24 ; 3 







155-3 



8 



1*3 



5-0 



13-7 



243-0 



48-0 







311-0 



9 



17 



5-0 



28-7 



227-7 



52-7 







315-7 



10 



2-0 



12-7 



4-3 



111-7 



61-7 







192 3 



11 



3-5 



9-0 





98-0 



1-5 







112-0 



12 



4-5 



12-0 





57-5 









74-0 



13 



100 



10-5 





24-0 





0 V 5 



... 



45-0 



14 



6-5 



16-5 





31-5 



8-5 





1-0 



64-0 



15 



4-5 



10-0 





100-0 



6-5 







121-0 



16 







i'-b 



96-5 



92-5 







190-0 



When compared with the hauls made in June and November in the 

 previous year, these figures show that the average for flat-fishes in the 

 closed waters generally rose from 149-0 to 167*7 per haul. The increase 

 was confined to dabs. Common dabs increased from an average per haul 

 of 100*2 in 1897 to an average of 120*9 in 1898. Long rough dabs 

 increased from an average per haul of 18*8 to 19*1. The average per 

 haul of plaice declined from 19*7 to 18*3, and the average of lemon soles 

 from 6*3 to 5*4. Witches also showed a trifling decline — viz., from 4 to 

 3*8. Among round-fishes the average per haul for the whole area was 

 48*8, as compared with 32*8 in the preceding year, the increase being 

 principally in gurnards. The trawling investigations of the " Garland " 

 in the closed waters of the Moray Firth are not yet sufficient in amount 

 or in time to enable any definite conclusion to be drawn as to the results 

 of the closure. 



The special statistics of the fish caught by line fishermen in the closed 

 area of the Moray Firth, and landed on the contiguous coasts, have been 



