of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



31 



numbers of the fish were as follows, the marketable being represented 

 on the first line (I.) and the unmarketable on the second line (II.) : — 





Plaice. 



Com. 

 Dab. 



Tur- 

 bot. 



Long 

 Rough 

 Dab. 



Cod. 



Cod- 

 ling. 



Had- 

 dock. 



Whit- 

 ing. 



Gur- 

 nard. 



Starry 

 Ray. 



Thorn- 

 back. 



Total. 



I. 



II. 



52 

 47 



93 

 379 



1 



33 



1 



12 



668 

 101 



60 

 15 



32 



7 



9 



887 



623 





99 



472 



1 



33 



1 



12 



769 



75 



32 



7 



9 



1,510 



The plaice consisted of nineteen large, eight medium, and twenty-five 

 small but marketable, and forty-seven too small to be marketable, due 

 to the fishing in the very shallow water. There were only three large 

 haddocks, and 665 small but marketable, besides 101 too small to be 

 marketable. 



The second haul was made in the same place, the net being shot in 

 seventeen fathoms and worked into six and ten and fifteen fathoms, 

 and it lasted five hours and fifteen minutes, or five minutes less than 

 the previous haul. The marketable catch in this instance consisted of 

 ten-and-a-half baskets of haddocks, four-and-a-half baskets of plaice, 

 one-and-a-quarter basket of whitings, one of dabs, and a quarter of a 

 basket of codlings, as well as eight cod. It was thus very much larger. 

 All the fish were enumerated, except the codlings. The number, 

 excluding the codlings, was 3300, of which 2968 were marketable and 

 332 unmarketable. Allowing twenty codlings for the quarter- basket, 

 the total of marketable would be increased to 2988 fishes. 



The details are as follows : — 





Plaice. 



Lemon 

 Sole. 



Common 

 Dab. 



Long 

 Rough 

 Dab. 



Cod. 



Codling. 



Had- 

 dock. 



Whit- 

 ing. 



o % 



Starry 

 Ray. 



Thorn- 

 back. 



Angler. 



Total. 





310 



5 



168 





8 



[20 ?] 



2,316 



161 











2,968 



IL 



62 



2 



162 



31 







37 



9 



3 



13 



6 



7 



332 





372 



7 



330 



31 



8 



[20?] 



2,353 



170 



3 



13 



6 



7 



3,300 



All the fishes, except the long rough dabs and the gurnards, were in 

 greater numbers than in the preceding haul with the beam-trawl. 



Little can be deduced from a single drag with each net as in this 

 experiment, but as it is, so far as I am aware, the only one of the kind yet 

 made, it may be worth while to discuss the results. The number of flat- 

 fishes taken with the beam-trawl was 605, or 40-0 per cent, of the total 

 catch ; with the otter-net the number was 740, or an excess of 135, but 

 the percentage was only about half, viz. 22*4 per cent. If the skates and 

 rays be included — and they are equally characteristic bottom fishes 

 — the number in the case of the beam- trawl becomes 621 and the 

 percentage 41*1, and in the case of the otter-trawl the number is 759 

 and the percentage 23. The deduction from these figures, considered 

 alone, is that the otter-net is more efficient than the beam-trawl in 

 catching flat-fishes in the proportion of 1*22 to 1, or 22 per cent. — 

 in other words, that the spread of the net in fishing is that percentage 



