of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
187 
period prohibited; and I shall deal with those parts where the experiments 
have been carried on with the greatest regularity, namely, the Firth of 
Forth and St Andrews Bay. The figures show that considerable fluctua- 
tions have occurred in the abundance of fish caught ; but, comparing the 
mean number of fish got in each haul of the net in the close area during 
the first three years and the last three years, we have the following result : — 
Years. Flat-Fish. Round-Fish. Total. 
1886-1888 190-6 148-1 338-6 
1889-1891 154-7 155-0 309-7 
These figures are very instructive. They show that a decrease rather 
than an increase has taken place in the abundance of flat-fish in the terri- 
torial waters in which beam-trawling has been longest prohibited • and this, 
at first sight, seems paradoxical, since it is contrary to reason to suppose 
that the interdiction within a given area of an extensive mode of fishing, 
by which flat fish are chiefly captured, should lead to a diminution of the 
number of these fish within that area. But the researches made on board 
the 1 Garland,' since the summer of 1888, furnish a probable clue. They 
have shown that most of the food-fishes — and nearly all the important 
ones — spawn outside the territorial waters in the region referred to — the 
pelagic eggs in the process of development being floated in immense num- 
bers towards the shallower waters — and it may be said that scarcely any 
of the plaice, lemon soles, turbot, haddock, cod, &c, to be found within 
the Firth of Forth or St Andrews Bay were born there. They have been 
floated in at an early stage of their existence, or have migrated thither at 
a later period. Some 15,000 food-fishes have been carefully examined 
during the last four years, and not a single ripe cod, haddock, or plaice 
has been obtained within the territorial waters ; a few mature lemon soles 
have been obtained at the margin. Further, tow-netting has been carefully 
carried on in connection with this inquiry, and the results show that, 
while the pelagic ova may be obtained in immense numbers outside the 
Firth of Forth and St Andrews Bay, they materially diminish in quan- 
tity further up the Firth. The hypothesis that seems to account for the 
diminution of flat-fish in the territorial waters is that the spawning fish 
are captured in greatly increased numbers on the spawning grounds lying 
outside, where the beam-trawlers — driven from the territorial waters — 
work on a larger ^scale than hitherto. 
Statistics of the fish caught by line fishermen within the territorial 
waters along the greater part of the East Coast, during the past four years, 
also indicate depletion of inshore grounds. Thus, along this great extent 
of coast, the average quantity of white fish (including both round-fish and 
flat-fish) per ' shot ' of the lines was as follows : — In 1888, 2*539 cwts. ; 
in 1889, 2-494 cwts. ; in 1890, 2-425 cwts. ; in 1891, 2-438 cwts. These 
figures refer to nearly 100,000 cwts. of fish each year. 
From the foregoing discussion of the statistics, I do not think it will 
be seriously contested that the supply of fish, relative to the machinery of 
capture, has diminished, and is likely to continue to diminish, especially 
as regards certain kinds. But this statistical discussion would be incom- 
plete without reference being made to some other considerations. 
In the first place, there is the question of the extent of the fishing 
grounds. In early times the fisheries on the East Coast were confined to 
the Firths and to a strip of water contiguous to the coast at certain places. 
And, until the period under consideration was well advanced, this con- 
tinued to be the case. There was not a decked fishing boat from Berwick 
