of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 
19 
Cockles. 
The cockle industry is large and important on many parts 
of the English coast. In Scotland the chief cockle fishery is 
at Barra, in the Hebrides, and since the yield of these beds is 
rapidly diminishing it was deemed desirable to institute an inquiry 
into the subject. This inquiry was conducted recently by Dr J. 
H. Fullarton, and the results are given in the present volume. 
The history of the Barra Beds, their extent, position, and their 
yield are described ; and it is recommended that, as the fishermen 
themselves desire, measures should be adopted to prevent the 
taking of undersized cockles, and to ensure the working of the beds 
by a system of rotation. A chart of the Barra cockle-beds is given. 
Lobsters. 
On the West Coast the lobster fishery has generally deteriorated ; 
there has been a diminution of numbers, and also a diminution in 
size. At Barra, lobsters have become so scarce on the east side of 
the island that the fishermen have abandoned this fishery and 
have taken to the cod and ling fishing. Some of the West Coast 
lobster fishermen desire a close time, but a close time is now 
enforced by nature in the storms of winter, and the fishery can only 
be profitably carried on for a few months in summer. 
More than in any other sea fishery, close times and other restric- 
tions have been applied in that for lobsters (especially in Canada 
and Norway), and have been unsuccessful. Becourse is being had 
in the United States, Newfoundland, Norway, and Canada to arti- 
ficial culture. 
The Fishery Board are, as has been said, constructing a lobster 
enclosure at Brodick, on the West Coast, and hope that means will 
be provided to enable them to carry on operations at Dunbar, where 
lobster fishing was once of great importance, large numbers being 
exported in welled smacks. 
6. Physical Observations. 
In the determination of the physical conditions of the sea 
which are related to fishery questions, especially temperature and 
density, it is of essential importance that the observations should 
be continuous. Scattered or occasional observations, and observa- 
tions in a given area only at considerable intervals of time, are of 
little or no value by themselves in connection with scientific 
fishery inquiries. Hence the most important observations are 
those taken daily at fixed stations, as is done on the Continent 
and in America. In 1888, the Northern Lighthouse Commis- 
sioners courteously consented to the proposal that daily observa- 
tions should be taken at Lighthouses and Lightships in the Forth 
and Tay area, and these observations are now going on. Physical 
observations are now being made as follows : — 
1. At Fixed Stations. — (1) Bell Kock Lighthouse, (2) Lightship 
'Abertay/ at the mouth of the Tay, (3) Lightship at North 
Carr Bocks, (4) Oxcar Lighthouse, (5) Dunbar, (6) Ardrishaig, 
(7) Brodick, (8) Stornoway. 
