22 
Part III. — Eighth Annual Report 
SECTION A.— GENERAL REPORTS, 
I. — REPORT ON THE TRAWLING EXPERIMENTS OF THE 
* GARLAND,' AND ON THE STATISTICS OF EAST 
COAST FISHERIES. Part IY. (Plates I. -III.) 
I. INTRODUCTORY. 
The trawling experiments of the ' Garland' during 1889 were conducted 
on the same general lines as in former years, but with greater continuity. 
The stations in the Firth of Forth and St Andrews Bay were examined 
at short intervals ; and those off the Forfarshire and Aberdeenshire Coast, 
and in the Moray Firth, as often as opportunity would allow. In the 
month of July the 1 Garland ' proceeded to the Orkney Isles, where four 
stations were selected and examined. 
During the year 1889, the 'Garland' made 153 hauls of the trawl at 
the various stations in the closed waters and the waters adjoining (as 
compared with 90 hauls in 1888), besides a large number of hauls at 
other carefully selected places in the inshore and offshore waters, and a 
large number of observations, which are dealt with in the special report 
on the Distribution of Immature Fish. 
On the 26th July, 1889, the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act came into 
operation. This Act closes the whole of the territorial waters of Scotland, 
together with certain bays specified in the Schedule to the Act, against 
beam-trawling or otter-trawling. 
By a Bye-law passed under Section 6 (which gives to the Fishery 
Board certain powers), the area in the Firth of Clyde lying inside of a 
line between the south end of Bute and the Ayrshire Coast was opened 
to sailing trawlers under eight tons burden. Before this Act came into 
force the greater part of the territorial waters on the East Coast was 
closed against trawling by Bye-laws of the Fishery Board ; namely, 
from the south side of the Firth of Forth to the Ord of Caithness. It 
may be well to give a resume here of the successive Bye-laws passed by 
the Fishery Board in relation to beam and otter trawling before the 
Herring Fishery (Scotland) Amendment Act came into force : — 
1. On the 5th of April 1886, the first Bye-law was passed, by which 
the Firth of Forth and St Andrews Bay were closed within a line drawn 
between Tantallon Castle, the Isle of May, Fife Ness, and the Fairway 
Buoy at the mouth of the Tay. 
2. On the same date Aberdeen Bay was closed within a line drawn 
between Girdle Ness Lighthouse and the Cruden Scars Rocks. This 
Bye-law was revoked on July 4th, 1887. 
3. On July 4th, 1887, the territorial waters of the Moray Firth were 
closed between the Ord of Caithness and Kinnaird Head. 
4. On July 4th, 1887, the Bye-law relating to St Andrews Bay was 
modified so as to include the territorial waters from the mouth of the Tay 
to Red Head in Forfarshire. 
5. On February ,28th, 1889, the territorial waters between Red Head 
and Kinnaird Head -were closed. 
