FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 



TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 



LORD BALFOUR of BURLEIGH, 



Her Majesty's Secretary for Scotland. 



Office of The Fishery Board 

 for Scotland, 

 Edinburgh, June 2, 1897. 



My Lord, 



In continuation of our Fifteentli Annual Report, we 

 have the honour to submit — 



PART III. — SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS. 



GENERAL STATEMENT. 



This part of the Fifteenth Annual Report, deals with the prin- 

 cipal scientific investigations conducted by the Board in 1896, in 

 connection with the sea fisheries under their charge. In the course 

 of the year the investigations, which were carried on under the 

 supervision of the Scientific Superintendent, were prosecuted on the 

 same general lines as in previous years, and have resulted in further 

 extensions of knowledge respecting the life-history and habits of the 

 food fishes, and by the physical conditions and changes in the sea 

 which bear upon fishery problems. Special attention has been given 

 to certain hydrographical questions concerning the circulation of 

 the water in the North Sea and the adjacent parts of the North 

 Atlantic. In addition to such inquiries the hatching and artificial 

 propagation of some of the important food fishes have been con- 

 tinued at the Board's Marine Hatchery at Dunbar. 



A considerable part of the scientific inquiries, both biological and 

 physical, have been carried on or rendered possible by means of the 

 ' Garland,' the small steamer obtained by the Board some years ago 

 for the purpose of carrying on scientific work. As explained in 

 previous Reports the small size of this vessel has caused the work to 

 be restricted for the most part to the territorial waters. It has not 

 been possible with the means at disposal to carry on adequate in- 



