18 



Fart III. — Twenty -first Anniml Report 



which three were large, seventeen medium, and the remainder small. 

 The haddocks numbered 325, of which 124 were large, forty-one 

 medium, and 160 small. There were also two cod, seventy-two 

 marketable codlings, twenty-seven whitings, sixteen gurnards, sixty-two 

 common dabs, thirty-three witches, as well as twelve lemon dabs and 

 two cat-fishes. 



The vessel again returned to Burghead Bay and made a series of 

 hauls on the same grounds as before, with even poorer results, the 

 catches varying from 812 to 205 marketable fishes. The plaice which 

 were of marketable size varied from 128 to 405, and the marketable 

 haddocks from one to seventy-nine. 



The coast of Caithness was then visited and a drag made ofi" Lybster, 

 in from twenty to twenty-five fathoms, for four hours and five minutes. 

 The number of fishes caught was 1044, of which only 356 were market- 

 able, the chief feature being the abundance of gurnards as well as the 

 scarcity of plaice and haddocks. The marketable fishes comprised 

 three cod and thirty-three codlings, 109 haddocks, only nine being 

 large and sixteen medium, 102 whitings, a cat-fish, twenty-seven 

 marketable gurnards, sixty-five plaice, all but twenty being small, a 

 halibut, and fifteen common dabs. 



Steaming to Smith Bank a drag was made in from twenty-one to 

 thirty fathoms on the northern edge for four hours and ten minutes, 

 and 1706 fishes were taken, of which 804 were gurnards. The 

 marketable fishes numbered 847, comprising two cod, five codlings, 

 394 haddocks, forty-six of which were large and eighty-seven of medium 

 size, forty-three whitings, three cat-fishes, 185 gurnards, three halibut, 

 a turbot, a brill, eighty lemon dabs, three witches, nineteen common 

 dabs, and 106 plaice, eighty-four being mediums. There was thus a 

 considerable variety in the fishes, but none of them were obtained in 

 large numbers. 



The vessel then ran to Burghead Bay again and made other four 

 hauls on the 19th and 20th with slightly better results than on the 

 previous occasion. The first yielded 899 marketable fishes and 286 

 unmarketable, the number of plaice being 344, while the haddocks 

 comprised only seventeen. In the second drag 817 marketable 

 fishes were obtained, including 277 plaice and thirty-four haddocks. 

 In the third the number of the marketable fishes was 988, of 

 which plaice amounted to 329 and haddocks to 49. In the fourth, 

 which was the best, 809 marketable fishes were secured, including 

 470 plaice — thirty-four being large and 261 medium, — and forty-nine 

 haddocks. 



The aggregate number of fishes obtained in Burghead Bay as the 

 result of fifteen hauls, representing sixty-two and a half hours of 

 fishing, was 14,257 : the number of the marketable was 10,301, or at 

 the rate of scarcely 165 fishes of all kinds per hour. The particulars 

 are given in the following Table, the marketable being indicated by I., 

 and the unmarketable by II. : — 





Cod. 



Codling. 



Haddock. 



Whiting. 



Gurnard. 



Coal-fish. 



Cat-fish. 



1. 



55 



41 



1,054 



226 



1,372 



1 



68 



II. 





63 



109 



101 



574 









55 



104 



1,163 



327 



1,946 



1 



68 



[Continued. 



