XXIV 



Thirty -first Annual Report 



titles taken by the three methods of fishing in 1912 and 1911 are 

 shown in the following table : — 



Year. Trawl. Line. Net. 



1912 ... 2,197,014 cwts. 680,584 cwts. 97,299 cwts. 



1911 ... 2,235,177 „ 718,127 „ 61,105 „ 



The decline in the line catch was mainly due to the diminished 

 success of the steam liners, whose operations on the Atlantic grounds 

 were much interfered with by stormy weather and the ravages of dog- 

 fish. The increase in the quantity taken by net was due to the 

 improved results which attended cod-net fishing in the Moray Firth. 



Of the increase in value, about 93 per cent, was referable to 

 trawled fish. 



Haddoclis. 



This species v.-as landed in 1912 to the amount of 953,226 cwts., 

 valued at £575,957, as compared with 1,071,020 cwts. and £529,431 

 in the preceding year. Both the line and the trawl catch were in- 

 volved in the decrease in quantity, but whereas the former shows a 

 corresponding decline in value, the latter realised £54,494 more than 

 in 1911. The trawl catch amounted to 810,976 cwts., or 92,736 cwts. 

 less than in 1911, the decrease being general at all the trawling ports. 

 Haddocks w^ere scarce on the North-western grounds, and another 

 unsatisfactory feature of the fishing was the preponderance of small 

 haddocks in the catches obtained in the North Sea, the proportion of 

 small fish in the total catch at Aberdeen having increased from 44 to 

 47 per cent., notwithstanding that during the last quarter of the year 

 some splendid hauls of large haddocks VN^ere secured on the Dogger 

 and Fisher Banks, where for years they have been scarce. 



Line-fishing for haddocks is almost exclusively an inshore fishing 

 prosecuted by small sailing boats, and the contribution from this 

 source amounted to 142,250 cwts., valued at £83,384, or 25,058 cwts. 

 and £7968 less than in 1911. Good catches were secured from time 

 to time on various parts of the coast, but all over the fishing, as the 

 results indicate, was less successful than in the preceding year, the 

 greatest falling ofi" occurring in Shetland, where very stormy weather 

 prevailed during the spring and winter months. 



The average price realised per cwt. was 12s. Id., as compared with 

 9s. lid. in 1911. 



God. 



For the third year in succession the landings of cod exceeded those 

 of haddocks, and, provided the German trawlers which prosecute the 

 Icelandic cod fishing from Aberdeen continue to land their catches 

 there, the probability is that this species will permanently retain pride 

 of place as the principal contributor to the white fish supply. Viewed 

 in its relation to the world's food supply, the cod undoubtedly exceeds 

 the haddock in importance, as, in its cured-dried form, it figures as 

 prominently in the dietary of the Latin and Hellenic races of Southern 

 Europe and elsewhere as does the herring in that of the Teutonic and 

 Slavonic races of Northern and Central Europe. In 1912 the total 



