184 
Part III. — Eighth Annual Report 
Of 470 fish taken, nearly half died while their condition was being 
recorded. All the round fish, large and small, rapidly succumbed. 
Ninety-six out of 240 flat-fish also perished, especially the dabs and 
lemon soles. The plaice showed remarkable vitality, only 4 dying. It 
is noteworthy that it was not always the immature specimens which 
succumbed first. Thus fifty-four immature plaice and one immature 
flounder were living, while four adult plaice and one adult flounder were 
dead. The only immature flat-fish which was dead was one lemon sole. 
The bottom where this haul was made consisted of mud and shells, 
and it was therefore unfavourable. But Mr Thomas Scott, F.L.S., who 
conducted the experiment, states: — 1 Very few, if any, of the fish were dead 
when the trawl was hauled up, but many died very soon,' as the record 
was being made. It would appear, therefore, that many of the fish that 
escape death in the trawl die rapidly while lying on the deck. What 
is their chance of vitality if returned at once to the sea? The 
experiments which the Board have carried on as to the migratory move- 
ments of fish probably throws some light upon this question. About 
1000 fish caught in the trawl after its being down from one to two and a 
half hours have been labelled with brass labels and replaced in the sea 
(vichi p. 353). Of 333 plaice labelled, 8 are known to have been 
recaptured alive months afterwards ; of 33 cod and codling, 3 have been 
recaptured ; of 43 lemon soles and of 220 dabs, none have been retaken. 
It is probable that a large number of dabs succumbed after being replaced 
in the sea. Comparatively few haddock and whiting were lively enough 
to label. 
The importance of the above observations is related to this question : — 
If any regulations be made for beam-trawlers to return immature fish to 
the sea, are the fish likely to live or to perish 1 As the beam-trawl is 
now worked most of them would, I think, almost certainly perish. 
Besides the observations made by Professor M'Intosh, referred to 
above, there is very little scientific evidence as to the immature fish cap- 
tured by beam-trawlers in their ordinary operations. I instructed Mr T. 
Scott, F.L.S., while on board steam -trawlers for scientific purposes, to 
measure the smallest fish obtained by the trawl ; but from the rapidity 
with which the operations of sorting out the fish, &c., are performed, this 
was found to be impracticable. However, while on board the ' Southesk,' 
which belongs to Messrs Johnston & Sons, Montrose, and works almost 
entirely off-shore, he kept notes as far as possible. In March 1889, 1310 
haddocks were got in one haul in the Moray Firth. * The average size of 
these fish was 16 inches, and very few were as small as 10 \ inches.' 
These fish, however, belonged to a spawning shoal, and few immature 
individuals would be present. The smallest round fishes recorded during 
this voyage in the Moray Firth were cod, 12 inches ; whiting, 6| inches 
(' exceptional, very few so small ') ; haddocks, 9^ inches ; gurnard, 8J 
inches. The smallest flat-fishes were : — Plaice, 6 inches (one specimen) ; 
common dab and long rough dab, 6 inches ; lemon sole, 10 inches ; witch 
sole, 8£ inches. In April, twenty miles from Montrose, the smallest haddock 
recorded was 12 inches, the smallest cod 12 inches, the smallest whiting 
9 inches, the smallest witch sole 12 inches, the smallest lemon sole 11 
inches, and the smallest dabs 6| inches. From the abundance of dabs, the 
3 ize of the smallest caught maybe taken as a test of the capacity of the net to 
allow small fish to escape. It would therefore appear, from the rather im- 
perfect evidence obtained, that the net of at all events the ' Southesk ' 
steam-trawler only occasionally captures fish under six inches in length. 
The evidence in regard to the capture of immature fish by the beam- 
trawl may be thus formulated : — 
