24 



Part III. — Eleventh Annual Report 



condition of the fishing-grounds, and selecting a number of experimental 

 stations in the offshore waters. From the fact that the Moray Firth con- 

 tains extensive spawning-grounds of white fish, the most important of 

 which is the well-known Smith Bank, the experiment of closing it to 

 beam-trawling will be watched with much interest. 



The statistics in connection with the trawling experiments which have 

 been collected as to the relative amounts of fish landed by line fishermen 

 and beam-trawlers along the East Coast, the quantities obtained by line 

 fishermen from the territorial waters, where trawling is prohibited, 

 <fcc, are discussed below. A part of the work connected with the 

 tabulation of some of these statistics has fallen upon the fishery officers 

 of the districts concerned, namely, Mr John Murray, Newhaven ; Mr 

 Mair, Anstruther ; Mr Duff, Montrose ; Mr Bain, Stonehaven ; and Mr 

 Couper, Aberdeen. The trawling returns were kept by Mr Thomas 

 Scott, F.L.S. I have also to acknowledge the assistance of Dr W. Ramsay 

 Smith, B.Sc, in the tabulation of the statistics, and the care and zeal 

 with which Captain R. Campbell, in command of the £ Garland,' has 

 discharged his duties. 



II. THE WORK OF THE 'GARLAND.' 

 1. The Firth of Forth. 

 Plate I. 



The various trawling stations in the Firth of Forth area were examined 

 last year once each month, with the exception of August, when the ' Gar- 

 land ' was engaged on the West Coast. The total number of ordinary 

 trawlings at these stations was 99, of which 77 were made at the stations 

 within the closed waters and 22 at the two stations outside. The tables 

 giving these observations will be found at p. 41, and the analyses of the 

 figures at p. 38. Dealing, first of all, with the stations in the closed 

 area (I. -VII.), it will be found that a slight decrease occurred in the total 

 abundance of fish as compared with 1891. In the latter year the average 

 per 'shot,' or haul of the net, for all kinds of fish, was 189 '4, while last 

 year the average was only 184*4. In 1890 the corresponding average was 

 228*9. This decrease was due entirely to a falling off in flat-fish, which 

 in 1891 yielded an average per 'shot ' of 115*0, as compared with 106*3 

 last year. Round-fish increased slightly within the closed waters — 

 namely, from an average of 67*7 in 1891 to 71*3 in 1892. At Stations 

 VIII. and IX., situated beyond the territorial limit, and therefore where 

 the prosecution of beam-trawling is not interfered with, there was a 

 decrease in the average catch of flat-fish and an increase in that of 

 round-fish. In 1891 the average for flat-fish was 50*8 per haul, com- 

 pared with 43*0 la. st year; the averages for round-fish were 38*6 

 in 1891 and 73*0 in 1892. From these figures, therefore, it is evident 

 that there was a falling off in the abundance of flat-fish last year both 

 within and without the closed waters of the Firth of Forth area, and at 

 the same time an increase in the numbers of round-fish, which was much 

 greater at the stations in the open areas than within the Firth proper. 



The figures representing the mean average catch of flat-fish and round- 

 fish per shot' of the trawl at the seven stations within the closed area, 



