12 



Part III — Twenty -eighth Annual Beport 



proportion, attributable for the most part to a fuller supply of water and 

 better filtering arrangements, and to the utilisation of the filtered water 

 again during the occurrence of storms, as described in last report. 



The number of living fry obtained in the course of the season was 

 estimated at about 16,615,000, as compared with 12,296,000 in the previous 

 year. They were put out into the sea in nine lots, the first on the 25th 

 February, and the last on the 12th June, as described in Table II. 

 appended. About half of the fry were taken to the northern part of the 

 coast of Aberdeenshire and liberated off Sandhaven, near Fraserburgh, 

 Mr. W. J. Caird, of Sandhaven, kindly rendering much assistance in making 

 the arrangements. The remainder were liberated off Aberdeen Bay and 

 Girdleness. 



The fishermen on the coast of Aberdeenshire have petitioned on several 

 occasions for fry to be " planted " in the locality of their fishing grounds, 

 requests of the kind having been received from many of the villages from 

 Rosehearty to Cruden. Their plaice-fishing has recently been very much 

 better than it was before, and they attribute the improvement to the 

 planting of the fry along the coast during the last five or six years. In 

 such cases it is not an easy matter to obtain convincing evidence, but 

 inquiries at other parts of the coast show that the plaice-fishing had not 

 improved in the same way at other localities, and from the results of the 

 extensive experiments carried on for thirteen years in Lochfyne, and 

 described in the Annual Report for 1907, it is quite likely the fishermen 

 are right in their opinion, namely, that their increased catch of plaice is 

 due to the operations of the hatchery. 



The number of the eggs of the plaice collected from the spawning-pond, 

 and the number of the fry hatched out and liberated in the sea, in the 

 various years since the hatchery was established at the Bay of Nigg, are as 

 follows : — 





Eggs Collected. 



Fry Produced. 



1900 



43,290,000 



31,305,000 



1901 



65,377,000 



51,800,000 



1902 



72,410,000 



55,700,000 



1903 



65,940,000 



53,600,000 



1904 



39,600,000 



34,780,000 



1905 



40,110,000 



24,500,000 



1906 



7,486,000 



4,406,000 



1907 



1,627,000 



1,282,000 



1908 



15,332,000 



12,296,000 



1909 



19,749,000 



16,615,000 





370,921,000 



286,284,000 



It will be seen that, although the numbers in the last two years are 

 greater than they were in 1906 and 1907, they fall far short of what they 

 were a few years earlier, when large supplies of adult fish were being 

 obtained by means of the trawlers whose services were secured for work in 

 the Moray Firth. 



It has to be added that the cost of the fish-hatching work as carried on 

 at the Bay of Nigg, in combination with the Marine Laboratory, is 

 comparatively small, amounting to about <£80 per annum, so far as it can 

 be estimated, the amount representing extra coals, oils, etc., food for the 

 fishes, and occasional assistance to the attendant. 



The appended Tables show the progress at the hatchery from day to day ; 

 the temperature and specific gravity of the water on the beach, in the 

 pond, and in the hatching apparatus ; and also the particulars referring to 

 the liberation of the fry : — 



