(.)8 Fart III. — Twenty -first Annual Report 



Date. 



Place. 



i:)epth. 



No. 



Size. 



10 January ... 



1 



Cromarty Firth 



(54-7 



27 



61-1 17mm. 



15 



Dog Hole (off Aberdeen) 



57 



14 





15 ,, 



Aberdeen Bay ... 



7-16 



1 





13 May 



Firth of Forth— Station III. ... 





568 



52-134 



1 June 



CVomarty Firth ... 



8 



552 



73-124 ,, 



13 



Alierdeen Bay ... ... 



5-12 



58 



86-116 



28 „ 



Lunan Bay, Montro.se ... 



12r, 



80 



86-117 



2 July 



Dornoch Firth 



10-12 



2 





4 September . 



Aberdeen Bay 



10 



1 





18 October ... 



Do. 



8-16 



108 



82-139 



28 November... 



Dog Hole 



68 



14 



87-125 



29 



Aberdeen Bay 



11-18 



1 





17 December ... 



Do. 



9-15 



26 



66-132 



;19 „ ... 



Do. 



6-81 



74 



67-111 



25 „ 



Dornoch Firth 



10 



185 



72-130 „ 



^25 „ ... 



Burgh ead Bay 



71-18 



536 



I 





Mackerel (Scomber scomhrus). 



Very rarely were mackerel taken in the trawl-net. In October, off 

 Dunbeath, Caithness, one was caught in twenty-four fathoms. At 

 certain times, however, they are taken in some numbers by the 

 trawlers and landed at Aberdeen. Last year, for example, the quantities 

 (in cwts.) landed, so far as ascertained, were as follows : — 



Jan. Feb. Mar. Sept. Nov. Dec. Total. 

 11| 1| 8 1 4 17| 44i 



Thus they were taken chiefly in December and January, and none 

 were procured fi'om March to September. With scarcely an exception 

 they were caught north-east to east by north of Aberdeen at distances 

 of from about forty-five to 130 miles from the nearest coast. Most 

 were taken south-easterly of Fair I.sle. It is noteworthy that those 

 got in September and Novembei* were taken further south, in the 

 region of the Great Fisher Bank, usually along with herrings ; in 

 December they were further north and west, on the edge of the deep water, 

 and to the north-west in deep water, south-east of the Shetlands ; in 

 January, further west opposite the mouth of the Moray Firth ; in 

 February, about fifty miles south-east of Fair Isle ; while in March the 

 single quantity taken was got far north in about Lat. 60° 5 N., 

 nearly midway between Norway and the Shetlands. The data are 

 too slender to theorise upon ; but the idea might be entertained, so 

 far as these facts go, that the shoals were moving north and 

 west as if making their way to the Atlantic, mostly between the 

 Orkneys and the Shetlands. On the other hand, the mackerel may have 

 been present in numbers at othei* times or other places, but in the 



