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Part III. — Seventh Annual Report 



On the East Coast 29 Stations have been formed for experimental 

 trawlings, and these have been examined from time to time 

 throughout the year. The Stations in relation to the closed waters 

 of the Firth of Forth, and those in St Andrews Bay, have been 

 very carefully and systematically investigated. The general 

 results do not show the same increase in the proportions of fish 

 caught by the 'Garland's' trawl as in 1887, bat they are superior 

 to the results of the experiments of 1886 (the first year in which 

 beam trawling was suspended in these waters) sj far as concerns 

 the relative abundance of flat-fish. The takes of line fishermen 

 from these waters, in which the ' Garland's ' operations have been 

 chiefly carried on, have, however, shown a considerable increase in 

 1888 over the previous year, and this has been especially marked 

 in the case of flat-fish, which, being less migratory than round-fish, 

 afford a better indication of the extent to which the fishing grounds 

 may recover after the closure of the waters to beam trawling, 

 the amount taken by line fishermen having been rather more than 

 doubled. The low temperature of the bottom water in 1888 

 (1 0, 6 F. less than in 1887), and the generally tempestuous character 

 of the weather, have probably a more or less close connection with 

 the diminution in the takes of the ' Garland.' There is also reason 

 to believe that, partly owing to the entire absence of fishery cruisers 

 from the East Coast during a considerable portion of the year, 

 and partly owing to the 'Jackal' being altogether unsuitable for 

 fishery work, the results of the 'Garland's' experiments have 

 been seriously interfered with. Large beam trawlers are often 

 engaged in fishing operations near the mouth of the Firth of 

 Forth and in the adjoining waters, and it is of essential import- 

 ance that constaut supervision should be exercised in this region, 

 from which apparently the restocking of the Forth almost entirely 

 depends. 



Uesides the trawling operations, concurrent inquiries have been 

 carried on on board the 'Garland' into the food of the edible 

 fishes, the maturity and spawning, and the proportional abundance 

 of immature and adult fishes in the territorial and offshore waters. 

 The results of these investigation are referred to below. 



(2) The Spawning Grounds of Plaice and other Food Fishes. 



Since the discovery by Sars, in 1864, that the eggs of several of 

 the more important food fishes floated at the surface of the sea, a 

 number of investigations have been made on this subject which 

 confirmed and extended the observations of Sars. The results of 

 these experiments and investigations having rendered it possible to 

 study what actually takes place in nature during the spawning- 

 period of the large shoals of plaice and other food-fishes frequenting 

 the open sea, it was decided to carry on a series of inquiries on 

 board steam beam trawlers working on the fishing grounds off the 

 East Coast. At the end of winter and the beginning of spring, 

 immense shoals of plaice and haddock, as well as cod and gurnard, 

 were discovered in the actual process of -spawning, at several of 

 the offshore fishing grounds in the Moray Firth and elsewhere ; 



