8 



Part III. — Eleventh Annual Report 



peller, the utmost speed she can attain is between eight and nine 

 knots an hour, while an ordinary steam- trawler goes from ten to 

 twelve knots. 



As a consequence of the inability of the * Garland ' to face any- 

 thing but moderate weather, or venture far from land, the work 

 has been practically restricted to the territorial waters, and the 

 firths and bays. It has not been possible to extend the investiga- 

 tions, which have already yielded such valuable results in the 

 inshore waters, to the breeding-grounds situated at some distance 

 from the shore, which constitute the great source of supply to the 

 territorial seas ; nor to the offshore fishing-grounds where both 

 liners and trawlers chiefly work, and where the great bulk of the 

 fish are caught. Were the ' Garland ' replaced by an efficient 

 sea-going vessel of the type of a good beam-trawler, capable of 

 visiting the fishing-grounds in weather when an ordinary trawler 

 or fishing boat can easily carry on its work, the Board would be 

 able to push on these investigations, and at the same time to 

 prevent, in a manner much more satisfactory than is possible under 

 present circumstances, the depredations of trawlers in the waters 

 closed against this mode of fishing. 



It may be stated that the Sea Fisheries Committee of Lancashire 

 have during the present year acquired a steam-vessel, much 

 superior to the 'Garland,' to be employed exclusively in the fisheries 

 work of the Lancashire district ; that the United States Fish Com- 

 mission have two large ocean-going steamers and a schooner for 

 scientific work alone ; and that in Canada the Government — which 

 provides about £90,000 annually for the supervision and promotion 

 of the fisheries — possesses eight steamers and two sailing-vessels in 

 connection therewith. 



Part of the scientific work was also carried on at the marine 

 laboratories at St Andrew's and Dunbar. At the latter the 

 researches upon the development of the plaice and the rate of 

 growth of fishes were continued, and at the former a number of 

 investigations were made on the eggs, larva?, and development of 

 a number of the food fishes, on the rate of growth of fishes, and 

 on the distribution of pelagic fish eggs and young fishes. These 

 are referred to more fully below. 



Physical observations have been made daily at ten fixed stations 

 — five on the East Coast and five on the West Coast — and also on 

 board the 'Garland,' the 'Vigilant,' and H.M.S. 'Jackal.' Besides 

 these, the Board have arranged for a physical investigation, during 

 the present summer, of the waters around the Shetland and Orkney 

 Isles, and extending from the Moray Firth to the Hebrides, according 

 to a scheme drawn up by Dr H. R. Mill, of the Royal Geographical 

 Society ; and they have also agreed, at the request of the Swedish 

 and Danish Governments, to make a series of similar observations 

 on the North Sea plateau to the east of the Shetlands, in con- 

 junction with the hydrographic survey being made in the Katte- 

 gat, Skagerack, and Baltic, by the Danish and Swedish Govern- 

 ments, under the supervision of Professor Otto Pettersson, of the 

 Stockholm University. 



