of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



27 



The vessel then proceeded to the Dornoch Firth, where three hauls 

 were made. One of these was not recorded, and the first of the others 

 was a small-meshed drag, which lasted for one hour and was made in from 

 6 to 10 fathoms, a moderate breeze blowing from the W.S.W. with 

 rain, and the sea being smooth. In the cod-end there were 396 fishes, 

 284 of which were marketable and 112 unmarketable. Most of the 

 catch consisted of plaice, but there were also 57 large and medium had- 

 docks, a cod, and a few dabs. The contents of the small-meshed net 

 were as follows : — 



Codling, 26 Long Kough Dab, - 1 



Whiting, - - - 408 Plaice, - - 30 



Common Dab, - - 127 Herring, - - 573 



Witch, w 1 Sprat, - 79 



The second drag, in about 8 fathoms for four hours, gave 1650 

 fishes, of which 1594 were marketable. The catch included 1252 plaice, 

 5 cod, 348 haddocks, a halibut, and 2 turbot. The two drags, 

 representing five hours' fishing, yielded 2046 fishes, 1878 being market- 

 able. In this total the plaice numbered 1481 and the haddocks 409. 

 The marketable and unmarketable fishes are as follows : — 





Cod. 



Cod- 

 ling. 



Had- 

 dock. 



Whit- 

 ing. 



Coal- 

 fish. 



Hali- 

 but. 



Tur- 

 bot. 



Plaice. 



Lemon 

 Dab. 



Com. 

 Dab. 



Thorn- 

 back. 



I. 



6 



7 



389 





1 



1 



2 



1,457 



3 



12 





II. 





10 



20 



31 







• 



24 





80 



3 



Total 



6 



17 



409 



31 



1 



1 



2 



1,481 



3 



92 



3 



Both among the haddocks and the plaice the proportion of the small 

 fishes was inconsiderable compared with some other hauls. The numbers 

 of the different classes were as follows : — 



1st 2nd 3rd 4th Unmarketable Total. 

 Haddock, 223 166 — — 20 409 



Plaice, 4 426 307 720 24 1481 



Before leaving the Firth some further hauls were made in Burghead 

 Bay on the 26th. In the first of these, in from 6 to 19 fathoms 

 and for four hours and a half, the number of fishes caught was 1017, 

 922 being marketable. Haddocks were sparingly represented, the bulk 

 of the catch consisting of plaice— 857 — and 2 turbot, 17 brill, 

 and 2 witches were also included in the total. In the next haul, in 

 16 to 20 fathoms, for four hours and twenty minutes, 1013 fishes 

 were taken, 909 being marketable ; they consisted mostly of plaice. 

 The third haul was not completely recorded ; it included nine baskets of 

 plaice. 



In the ten hauls made in Burghead Bay during this trip, the duration 

 of actual fishing being being forty hours and iive minutes, the total 

 number of fishes obtained was 11,487, or an average of 2865*6 per ten 

 hours' fishing the marketable numbered 10,038, the average per ten 

 hours being 2504*4, and the unmarketable amounted to 1449, the 



