30 



Part III. — Twenty -first Annual Report 



specimens. There were also taken in these hauls two grey skates, two 

 starry rays, and seven anglers, as well as four argentines, two Norway 

 pouts, two bibs, a herring, and a mackerel. The two latter may have 

 been taken when the net was being shot or hauled, but I have previously 

 found herrings in the stomachs of anglers caught in from 62-65 fathoms 

 about sixty-five miles S.E. by E. of Sumburgh Head.* 



The vessel left the fishing ground for port on the morning of 5th 

 June, and steamed seventy-four miles W.S.W. 



The temperature records are as follows : — 



Date. 



Depth. 



Approximate Position. 



Air. 



Surface. 



Bottom. 



1902. 



31 May 



Fms, 



34 



/Fisher Bank, 170 miles E. by S. from\ 

 \ Girdleness . . . . / 



50-5 



48-2 



43-2 



1 Jime 



34 



/Fisher Bank, 160 miles E. by S. from) 

 t Girdleness . . . . / 



52-3 



48-9 



43-8 



2 „ 



34 



r Fisher Bank, 150 miles E. by S. from\ 

 1 Girdleness . . . , / 



49-6 



48-4 



43-2 



3 June 



79 



80-90 miles E. from Buchan Ness 



50-9 



46 



42-9 



4 „ 



76 



80 „ „ „ . 



51-0 



46 



42S 



4 » 



71 



70 „ 



49-3 



46-3 



43-2 



5 „ 



66 



60 



50-2 



47 '0 



43-2 



4-. The Mm^ay Firth and Aberdeen Bay in October. 



In October another series of trawling experiments was conducted in 

 Aberdeen Bay and the Moray Firth, the trawler used being the " Star 

 of the Sea," part of the hauls being recorded by Dr. H. C. Williamson. 

 The expedition had more than usual interest from the circumstance 

 that the vessel was equipped with a full-sized beam-trawl (50 ft. 6 in.) 

 on one side and an otter-trawl on the other, the intention being 

 to make a series of experiments on the same grounds by using the 

 nets alternately with the object of determining the comparative 

 efficiency of each kind of gear. As a practical appliance the beam -trawl 

 is now quite obsolete on steam-trawlers ; but for the purpose of bringing 

 certain statistics of previous years, when it was exclusively employed, 

 into relation with the statistics obtained after the otter-net was intro- 

 duced — a matter of much importance — it is necessary to have a series 

 of comparative hauls from the same grounds at the same time. Unfor- 

 tunately in this case the beam-trawl was lost in the second trial. It is 

 possible the beam itself, which was one discarded when the new net 

 came into vogue, was not as strong as if it had been new ; but the diffi- 

 culty of adapting the gear for otter-trawling to the beam-trawl may have 

 had something to do with the mishap. 



The first haul made was with the beam-trawl in Aberdeen Bay on 

 2nd October, off the " Black Dog." The net was shot in twenty fathoms 

 and towed into shallow water, even into four fathoms, and after fishing 

 in a depth from that named upwards it was lifted in eighteen fathoms. 

 The haul lasted for five hours and twenty minutes, and the marketable 

 catch was a poor one, consisting of one cod, three baskets of small 

 haddocks, a basket of dabs, and a little over half a basket of plaice. The 



* Nineteenth Ann. Rep., Part III., p. 288. 



