32 



Part III. — Twenty-third Annual Report 



A Trip to the Faeroe Grounds. 



In April a trip to Faeroe was made by Mr. W. Chalmers, on board the 

 steam trawler " Star of the Wave," and records were taken by him and 

 the skipper, Mr. S. Caie, which are here included. The vessel left 

 Aberdeen on the morning of the 22nd and arrrived at Faeroe early in the 

 morning of the 24th, the voyage occupying forty and a half hours. 

 Nearly all the fishing took place to the south-east of Fuglo, in deep water, 

 and the weather was stormy, the vessel being compelled to lay to for 

 twelve hours. The first haul was made about six and a half miles off, 

 Fuglo bearing N.W. ; the trawl was dropped in. 55 fathoms and hauled 

 after four hours in 73 fathoms. The catch comprised 1048 fishes, of 

 which all but three were marketable. Here it may be said that the offal 

 or unmarketable fishes in the drags at the Faeroe deep water grounds bear 

 a very small proportion to the marketable fishes, and offer a contrast to 

 what usually obtains in, say, the Moray Firth. In this haul the number 

 of codlings was very large, viz., 520, all of them marketable ; there were 

 5 cod, a ling, a tusk, 16 halibuts, 400 haddocks, mostly large and all 

 marketable, 30 lemon dabs and 9 plaice, as well as 21 cat-fish, and a few 

 others. In the next haul, on the same ground, the net was split, and a 

 complete record was not made of the catch. It included, however, a 

 basket of codling, 1 cod, 906 haddocks (all but 1 marketable), 4 halibuts, 

 a ling, 11 cat-fish, 18 plaice, and 28 lemon dabs ; there were 15 offal fish. 

 The next drag, also on the same grounds, in from 53 to 57 fathoms, for 

 four hours, yielded 898 fish, all but 24 marketable. They consisted of 

 the same kinds, codling being less numerous, and the haddocks numbered 

 778, all of them being marketable. 



A number of hauls were made on this ground on the 24th and 25th, 

 in some of which the net was split, and in one the cod-end (of single 

 twine on this occasion for experimental purposes) gave way and most of 

 the catch was lost. In one of the drags, for four hours, 15 baskets 

 of large haddocks, one of mediums, and one and a half of smalls were 

 taken, with about 200 cod, and a number of halibut, plaice, and ling. On 

 the afternoon of the 25th the weather was so bad that the vessel had to 

 run for shelter, and the next forenoon fishing was resumed about 15 miles 

 off Videro in 60 to 67 fathoms, but with poor results, the net being split 

 and a gale blowing. In the evening, fishing off Fuglo was resumed, and 

 a number of hauls were taken in from 48 to 75 fathoms, haddocks, cod- 

 lings, and cod forming the bulk of the catches. 



Altogether the vessel made 29 hauls in the Faeroese waters, leaving for 

 Aberdeen on the morning of the 30th, and arriving in the port early on 

 the morning of May 2. In some of the hauls the net was torn, and in 

 other cases the catch was not completely enumerated. In 17 recorded 

 hauls, the aggregate time of fishing being sixty -seven hours and twenty 

 minutes, 13,932 fishes were captured, of which 13,767 were marketable 

 and 164 unmarketable. The ratio per ten hours of fishing was 2069*2 

 fishes, the marketable being 2044*8 and the unmarketable 24*4 per ten 

 hours. The total number of the principal species taken in these hauls, 

 and the ratio per ten hours' fishing, are given in the following Table : — 



[Table. 



