SECTION A— GENERAL REPORTS. 
I. — REPORT ON THE TRAWLING EXPERIMENTS OF THE 
1 GARLAND,' AND ON THE STATISTICS OF THE EAST 
COAST FISHERIES. Part VI. (Plates L, II.) 
I. INTRODUCTORY. 
During last year the trawling experiments of the 1 Garland ' were 
carried on at the various stations on the East Coast of Scotland, as in 
former years. The stations in the Firth of Forth and St Andrews Bay 
were examined once a month, so far as the weather permitted, and those 
in the Moray Firth and off the coasts of Forfarshire and Aberdeenshire 
as opportunity allowed. The number of the regular trawlings, or periodic 
examinations of the stations, made in the course of the year, was 156, of 
which 108 were in the Firth of Forth area. The detailed results of these 
trawling experiments are given in the tables annexed to this Report. 
In addition to the systematic inquiry into the influence of beam-trawling 
on the fish supply, the ' Garland ' was enabled to carry on throughout 
the year a series of experimental observations on other important fishery 
questions. When the weather allowed, visits were made to the fishing 
grounds lying off-shore, and investigations carried on as to the spawning 
and spawning places of the food fishes, the nature of fish-food, the distri- 
bution of the young and of the floating eggs, &c. The information thus 
obtained is dealt with in several papers in the present Report. The study 
and description of the collections of pelagic ova and larval and post- 
larval fishes have, as hitherto, been kindly undertaken by Professor 
M'Intosh, F.R.S., and have proved of unusual interest. 
Continuous physical observations on the temperature and salinity of 
the sea have also been made at the various trawling stations and along 
selected lines. 
As in previous years, Mr T. Scott, F.L.S., accompanied the ' Southesk,' 
by the courtesy of her owners, on one or two trips to the North Coast. 
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, the 
proportional amounts of small fish landed by beam-trawlers and line fisher- 
men, &c, 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 Mr W. Ramsay 
Smith, B.Sc, in the tabulation of the statistics, and the care and zeal 
with which Captain R. E. Simpson, in command of the ' Garland,' has 
discharged his duties. 
