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Part III. — Ninth Annual Report 
Hues, and on one of these (420 fathoms long, with 120 hooks) only five 
empty hooks were found. Such takes are never got now. Where a ton 
of halibut used to be a common haul, very few are now got. Fleets of 
trawlers work regularly on the adjacent banks, as many as thirty having 
been counted on the Long Forties in a single morning. Mr Dutliie gives 
incidentally a very interesting statement as to the existence of a halibut 
' nursery,' at a distance of over ninety miles E. by S. from Peterhead. 
In 1883 a fleet of nets filled with herrings sank. On being hauhd 
they were found to contain hundreds of young halibut, about 4 inches 
in length ; and when the crew worked their lines on the spot, at one haul 
they had 150 halibut, weighing about 30 cwt. Similar takes of halibut 
were once common along the edge of the Great Fisher Bank. 
2. The Moray Firth and North Coast. 
The Moray Firth has been long famous for its excellent fishing-grounds, 
both inshore and off'shore. The whole of the Firth may be said to be 
fishing-ground, more or less prolific, for skate, herring, cod, ling, and 
haddocks. As is shown in the chart, herrings spawn in various parts of 
the Firth, often close to the shore, and plaice, haddocks, cod, and other 
fish spawn in the offshore waters, especially at the well-known Smith 
Bank, where the ' Garland ' has carried on a number of important investi- 
gations. Some thirteen miles north from Troup Head there is a good 
spawning-ground for herrings and haddocks. About forty-five or fifty 
years ago the fishing-ground between Fraserburgh and Rosehearty was 
considered to be the best in the district, and, indeed, it was the first 
herring field ever reaped by the Fraserburgh fishermen. The bank, or 
' shallow,' lies a little over three miles from Sandhaven, extending from 
Kinnaird Head to Rosehearty, and it is a favourite resort of herring 
shoals at spawning-time. No ground in the Moray Firth has such 
attraction for the herring as the ' Broadsea Shallow they often spawn 
within a quarter of a mile of the shore. Lobster-creels have been covered 
with herring spawn within 200 yards of Sandhaven Pier. The spawning 
season is about the 20th August. Herrings also spawn on the Rosehearty 
shoals, some seven miles north, the ' Shaw,' and the ' Moss Cowie,' which 
lies some fourteen miles from Rosehearty, and where cod, ling, and 
haddocks are also obtained. Five miles north-east from Kinnaird Head 
there is a good fishing for cod, herrings, and haddocks, and twenty-five 
miles off" there is good spawning-ground. Off Wick there are excellent 
herring fishing-grounds, and on the North Coast there are productive 
grounds for herring, cod, ling, skate and halibut, for flat-fish, and for 
haddocks. 
3. The Orkney and Shetland Isles. 
The principal fishing-banks lying off these islands are shown on the 
chart. In Orkney there are few banks accurately known. Surrounding 
the islands from Hoy to Copinshay there is an extensive bank, the 
nearest edge of which is sixteen, and the outer edge from fifty to sixty 
miles off. Inside and outside this extensive bank a good cod and ling 
fishing is carried on, but on the bank itself only a few cod of poor quality 
can be obtained. The chief spawning-ground for herring is between 
Start Point, Sanday, and the island of Copinshay, from one to seven 
miles off*. Off the Shetland coasts there are extensive fishing-grounds for 
herring, cod, ling, tusk, saithe, halibut <fec. Saithe are caught around 
