of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



11 



spawners, were collected from trawlers in February and March, 

 and a little over 600 males and females were placed in the spawning 

 pond. Fertilised eggs were first observed towards the end of 

 February, and from that time until 11th May 30,960,000 eggs 

 were collected and transferred to the hatching apparatus. Of 

 these, about 95 per cent, were successfully hatched, and the bulk 

 of the fry, over 21,000,000 in number, were transported to Loch 

 Fyne in April and May, and liberated in the waters of the loch at 

 various places between Otter Spit and Strachur. 



The numbers of the various species which have been hatched at 

 the establishment and liberated in the sea since the work was 

 begun are as follows : — 





Plaice. 



Cod. 



Lemon 

 Soles. 



Turbot. 



Others. 



Total. 



1894 



26,060,000 



500,000 







... 



26,560,000 



1895 



38,615,000 



2,760,000 



4,145,000 



3,800,000 



1,0.50,000 



50,370,000 



■ 



1896 



11,350,000 



750,000 



1,580,000 



1,360,000 



950,000 



15,990,000 



1897 



24,370,000 







■" 





24,370,000 





100,395,000 



4,010,000 



5,725,000 



5,160,000 



2,000,000 



117,000,000 



It was pointed out in several preceding Eeports that the hatch- 

 ing work had been much impeded by the absence of sea- water 

 enclosures in which the adult fishes, to serve as spawners, could be 

 gradually collected, and retained from one season to another. It was 

 therefore necessary to procure a fresh supply of living fishes each 

 year before the spawning season began, and this course has, up to 

 the present, been followed, the fishes being obtained from trawlers 

 and transported to the hatchery by the ' Garland.' Besides 

 involving considerable direct expenditure, and interrupting the 

 ordinary work of the ' Garland,' this method of obtaining the 

 breeding stock has serious disadvantages. A large proportion of 

 the adults, which are distended with developing eggs, are injured 

 in the unavoidably rough process of capture by trawl-nets, and 

 most of these subsequently die shortly after they are placed in 

 the spawning pond. Moreover, experience has shown that those 

 ripe fishes which escape injury in this way require a certain time 

 in which to become accustomed to confinement before they will 

 shed their eggs. The spawning is under the control of the parent, 

 and in such cases retention of the eggs in the gravid female not 

 only leads to paralysis of the mechanism of oviposition and the 

 loss of the eggs, but frequently causes the death of the fish. From 

 these circumstances the quantity of fertilised eggs hitherto obtained 

 at Dunbar has been much below what it would have been under 

 more favourable conditions. 



The formation of a large tidal enclosure in which the adult fishes 

 might be retained from one season to another was an integral 

 part of the . plan adopted by the Board when the present hatchery' 



