34 



Fart III. — Twenty-first Annual Re'port 



highest catch of marketable fishes being 2404, chiefly haddocks and 

 plaice. 



The marketable fishes obtained in the nine drags are as follows, with 

 the average per hour's fishing : — 



(1) No. 

 Av. 



Cod. 



5 

 0-1 



Codling. 



287 

 8-0 



Haddock, 



9,227 

 252-8 



Whiting. Gurnard, 



160 

 4-4 



884 

 24-2 



Saithe. 



2 

 0-03 



Hake. 



2 

 0-03 



Ling. 



2 I 

 0-03 i 





Plaice. 



Brill. 



Common 

 Dab. 



Lemon 

 Sole. 



Witch. 



Thorn back. 



(2) No. 

 Av. 



7,903 

 216-5 



27 

 0-8 



1,558 

 42-7 



72 

 2-0 



226 

 6-2 



54 

 1-4 



The aggregate number taken, including a mackerel and a grey skate, 

 was 20,412, or an average per hour's fishing of 559*2, a very consider- 

 able proportion. The bulk of the catch consisted of plaice and 

 haddocks, but if the unmarketable fishes had been included, it is 

 probable that the first place, so far as numbers are concerned, would 

 have been taken by the common dab. Particulars were kept of the 

 selections made on board of the haddocks and pl-aice according to their 

 sizes, and the particulars are of interest. Both were divided into 

 four classes, firsts or large, seconds or medium, and thirds or small, and 

 fourths or extra small, a division which has come into vogue owing to 

 the rise in the price of fish. The fourth class, and perhaps the smaller 

 of the third, were previously not brought to market. The numbers 

 of each are as follows : — 



1st, 

 2nd, 

 3rd, 

 4th, 



Plaice. 



458 

 2,089 

 2,847 

 2,509 



7,903 



Haddock. 



168 

 60 

 8,142 



857 



9,22^ 



Thus sixty-seven per cent, of the plaice and ninety-seven per cent, of 

 the haddocks were small. Medium haddocks were especially scarce 

 and less abundant than the large ones. Whitings were remarkably 

 few in numbers, only 160 having been procured of marketable size in 

 the nine hauls, while gurnards, on the other hand, as compared with 

 Aberdeen Bay and the inshore places on the northern side of the Firth, 

 were abundant. 



The catches, as will be observed from the Tables, began to diminish 

 in productiveness after the third haul. The first three drags yielded 

 10,855 marketable fishes in thirteen hours and ten minutes' trawling; 

 the next three drags yielded 6835 marketable fishes in thirteen hours 

 and thirty minutes' trawling. The eighth haul produced only 937, and 

 the ninth 1131, marketable fishes. This reduction in the numbers 

 might be regarded as an instance of the temporary clearing away of the 

 bottom fishes on a limited ground by the repeated action of the trawl ; 

 and to some extent this may be the case, for the total of 20,412 is a 



