18 



Part III. — Fifteenth Annual Report 



The Trawling Experiments in the Moray Firth. 



In this important area the means taken to ascertain the influence of its 

 closure to beam-trawlers on the abundance of the food-fishes within it, 

 have consisted, in the first place, of direct trawling experiments made by 

 the ' Garland ' at sixteen stations, and, in the second place, by the 

 collection of special statistics around the coast, to show, as far as possible, 

 the quantities of the various kinds of fishes caught by line fishermen 

 within the closed area in each month of the year, and the number of 

 ' shots ' of the lines. During last year the inshore stations in the Moray 

 Firth were examined on three occasions, in August, October, and 

 November. Owing, for the most part, to the exposed situation of the 

 stations at Smith Bank and the offshore grounds it is not always 

 practicable for a small vessel like the ' Garland ' to continue trawling 

 operations at them ; these stations were therefore not examined so 

 frequently as the others lying closer to the shore. So far as the results go, 

 they show that the average numbers of flat-fishes captured per haul at each 

 of the stations in 1896 were as follows ; — ■ 



Flat-Fishes. 



Station. 



Plaice. 



Lemon 

 Soles. 



Witch 

 Soles. 



Common 

 Dab. 



Long Rough 

 Dab. 



Turbot, 



Brill. 



Total. 



1 



32-9 



1-0 





817 



0-3 





3 3 



119-0 



2 



7-0 



07 



77 



257 



16-3 







57-7 



3 



25 3 



23 





17 









29-3 



4 



46-3 







12*0 







i-'o 



59-3 



5 



27-3 



27 





21-3 



'is 





ro 



537 



6 



28-0 



2-0 





58-0 







1-0 



89-0 



7 



1-3 



2-3 





188-0 



34-0 







225-7 



8 



0-3 



5-0 



57 



587 



55-3 



0 : 3 





125-3 



9 



1-0 



07 



0 7 



837 



427 







128-7 



10 



3'3 



107 



657 



11-3 





0 : 3 





91*3 



11 



7-0 



7-0 





117-0 





10 





132-0 



12 



6-0 



5-0 





99-0 



20 







112-0 



13 





5-0 













5-0 



H 



2 : 0 



3-0 





35-0 



3 ; 0 





... 



43-6 



15 



l'O 



15-0 



i'O 



159-0 



36-0 







212-0 



16 



ro 



15-0 





109-0 



37-0 







162-0 



The average number of round-fishes, comprising cod, haddock, whiting, 

 and gurnard, varied from 5 to 120 per haul of the net at the various 

 stations. It is at present of little use to make comparison between the 

 results of the trawling experiments last year and those of previous years 

 in this area, because of the fact that the number of hauls in previous 

 years was small, and the months in which the stations were examined 

 were not always the same. 



Among the more important questions yet to be determined in the 

 Moray Firth are the definition of the spawning or breeding grounds of 

 white-fish, and the distribution of immature fishes throughout the area at 

 different seasons. It is known from the scientific work carried on in 

 previous years that great shoals of plaice, as well as of cod and haddock, 

 frequent Smith Bank, the well-known fishing-ground lying off the coast 

 of Caithness. But our knowledge of this bank at the spawning season is 

 very imperfect, and we have no scientific knowledge of the other spawn- 



