212 Part III. — Seventeenth Annual Report 



Fig. 1, Showing the various Trawling Stations in the Firth of Forth area. 



number caught was 1260. At the outer stations the average was only 

 26 '1, much higher than in the previous month, but much less than within 

 the limits of the Firth in the same month. At Station VII., on the south 

 side, near the Bass Rock, the average in May is 100 gurnards per haul, 

 compared with 22 "4 at Station V., west of the Isle of May, and 29*9 at 

 Station VI., on the north side, off the coast of Fife. At Station III., 

 east of Inchkeith, the average is 59*9 ; at Station II., in the north bay, 

 it is 49*3 ; at Station I. it is 41*7 ; and at Station IV., in the south bay, 

 it is 33*4. The lowest average of all is at Station IX., in the open sea, 

 furthest from the Firth, where it is oniy 14*5. These data show that the 

 shoals of gurnards begin to move into the Firth from the deeper waters 

 of the open sea in March ; this movement is continued and is much more 

 marked in April, and is intensified in May, when they are found in great 

 numbers all over the Firth, but are most numerous just within its mouth. 



In June we find the numbers of the gurnards have considerably 

 diminished. With 71 hauls of the net 2142 were captured, or an aver- 

 age of 30*2 gurnards per haul. In this month they are most abundant at 

 the inner stations, the average for Stations I. -IV. being 35*1, compared 

 with 29-1 at Stations V.-VL, and 22*9 at the outer stations, VIIL-IX. 

 They are most numerous at Station II., in the north bay, where the aver- 

 age is 43 ; at Station I. it is also high, viz. 41. They are least abundant 

 at Station V. (18*6) and at Station IX. (11 '4). In July the diminution 

 in the abundance of the gurnards continues. The number caught in 51 

 hauls of the net was 1225, an average of 24 per haul for the whole area. 

 They are now least numerous at the inner stations, where the average per 

 haul is 17 '1, or less than half of what it was in the previous month. They 

 are more abundant at the three stations at the mouth of the Firth (V., VI., 

 VII.), where the average is 28*5, or only a little under the previous 

 month ; and they are most abundant at the outer stations, VIII. and IX., 



