oj the Fishery Board for Scotland, 
11 
Year. 
Turbot. 
Soles. 
Other Prime 
Totals. 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
Cwts. 
57,561 
48,760 
44,272 
40,763 
Cwts. 
67,874 
52,151 
47,747 
46,187 
Fish. 
Owfcs. 
109,424 
105,057 
25,848 
46,137 
Cwts. 
234,859 
205,968 
117,867 
133,087 
So serious has this question of the capture and destruction of 
immature lish become, that an International Fisheries Conference 
was convened last year in London, under the auspices of the 
National Sea Fisheries Protection Association, specially to consider 
the subject. Delegates were present from Belgium, Denmark, 
France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain ; and it was resolved 
that scientific and statistical information should be collected in 
different countries, and that an official International Conference of 
European Maritime Powers should be held for the purpose of con- 
cluding a convention to prohibit the landing and sale of undersized 
fiat-fish within their respective jurisdictions. 
3. The Fishing-Grounds on the East Coast of Scotland. 
Hitherto no attempt has been made to represent topographically 
the various fishing-grounds on the East Coast of Scotland, such as 
has recently been accomplished by Captain Drechsel for those 
of Denmark. In the present Eeport will be found a brief descrip- 
tion of these fishing-grounds, prepared by Dr Fulton from informa- 
tion supplied by Fishery Officers and fishermen along the East 
Coast, together with two charts showing their position and extent. 
The herring spawning-grounds and the spawning-grounds of other 
food-fishes are represented. An attempt has also been made to 
discover and indicate the sites formerly frequented by herring 
shoals for spawning purposes and now deserted. It is well known 
that the herring may capriciously and suddenly abandon a spawn- 
ing-ground habitually frequented for generations, and may, after 
the lapse of many years, as capriciously return. If the principle 
held by the late Spencer Baird, the United States Fish Commis- 
sioner, is correct — that it is the rule for fish to return to spawn at 
the place where they were themselves hatched — it might be worth 
trying whether, by depositing and protecting artificially fertilised 
herring eggs on these deserted grounds, a profitable fishing might 
not in the course of a few s Basons be re-established. 
4. Inquiries into thb Food, the Reproduction, Habits, and 
Migration of the Food-Fishes. 
These inquiries have now been carried on for nearly three years 
on board the * Garland,' and have yielded results of recognised value. 
Similar investigations of a systematic nature have been organised in 
