186 
Fart III. — Tenth Annual Report 
turbot and other flat-fish are obtained. Thus, last year this mode of 
fishing yielded the following proportion of the total catch : — turbot, 81*2 
per cent. ; lemon soles, 98*2 per cent. ; flounder, plaice, and brill, 64*7 
per cent. The total number of cwts. of these flat-fish landed in Scotland 
annually, since statistics began to be collected, are as follows — irrespective 
of the mode of capture : — 
Year. 
Turbot. 
Lemon 
Sole. 
Flounder, 
Plaice, 
and Brill. 
Year. 
Turbot. 
Lemon 
Sole. 
Flounder, 
Plaice, 
and Brill. 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
3,902 
4,234 
7,350 
3,882 
5,282 
1,702 
4,163 
5,898 
7,573 
11,737 
67,226 
72,758 
83,180 
81,164 
96,354 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
5,424 
6,338 
5,554 
5,015 
12,669 
14,391 
16,651 
17,739 
87,184 
74,270 
81,309 
78,776 
Looking to the great increase in beam-trawling and line fishing, these 
figures are important. Despite the great increase of the machinery of 
capture, the gross quantity of flat-fish caught is diminishing. This is also 
the case off the East Coast of England, where beam- trawling is chiefly 
prosecuted, as the following figures, showing the quantities of flat-fish 
landed in the East Coast in recent years, indicate : — 
Year. 
Turbot. 
Soles. 
Prime Fish, 
not separately 
distinguished. 
Totals. 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
Cwts. 
57,561 
48,760 
44,272 
40,763 
Cwts. 
67,874 
52,151 
47,747 
46,187 
Cwts. 
109,424 
105,057 
25,848 
46,137 
Cwts. 
234,859 
205,968 
117,867 
133,087 
1891 
47,594 
61,287 
43,728 
152,609 
For the years 1887-88 the mean annual yield was 220,413 cwts. ; for 
1890-91 it was 142,848. It must be said, however, that since these 
statistics were begun only in 1887, and embrace a very large extent of 
coast, there may at first have been errors of classification and so forth. 
The increase noticeable last year may be due to the transformation taking 
place by the substitution of steam vessels for sailing vessels. 
I have now discussed the statistics relating to the three great modes of 
sea-fishing in Scotland — nets, lines, and beam-trawls. I turn to certain 
special statistics dealing in detail with a portion of the East Coast, and 
which are of much value. In the first place, the trawling experiments of 
the i Garland ' have already yielded important results. These experi- 
ments have been carried on continually for six years in portions of the 
territorial waters in which beam-trawling has been during the whole 
