8 
fishes, while further out, but still in the neighbourhood, on grounds 
which used to yield a considerable number of haddocks, cod, ling 
and halibut, the take is a very small one indeed, and the three latter 
forms are almost as conspicuous by their absence to-day as they 
used to be by their abundance. 
A few years ago we used to get at any rate a number of 
haddocks, principally in 1894-5. There were two obtained in 1896; 
since which year we have not got one in the trawl on these grounds. 
Were we to go further out to the spawning grounds of the herring, 
we should naturally get them and cod, and other forms as well. A 
large number of trawlers fish on these spawning grounds at the 
same time as the herring fishermen are fishing with their nets. As 
the haddock, cod, &c , are concentrated there, attracted by the food 
supply, there is bound to be a considerable tax on the recuperative 
forces of such fishes, and a further tax is imposed at the spawning 
season of these fishes themselves. I believe the effects are 
becoming very marked. The line fisherman complains that his 
returns are wretched compared with a period of 20 years ago or 
more. Indeed, he is year by year being forced to give up the winter 
white fishing, and if he is still trying to earn his livelihood by 
fishing, it is by joining the already too large number who are 
prosecuting the very destructive early winter crab and lobster 
fishing. This fishing in turn, consequently, is beginning to 
suffer both in quantity and quality. With regard to the white 
fishing, even the trawlers admit that the nearer grounds do not 
supply them with the catches they used to get. 
Our experiments, as far as haddocks are concerned, for we now 
get none, are parallel with the experience of fishermen. The few 
codling and whiting we obtain show, moreover, that at any rate 
neither are they common during the summer season in our in-shore 
waters. But this subject will be further considered in the report on 
the Fishery Conferences. 
To complete the summing up in regard to the round fishes, a 
table (Table II.) is subjoined which gives the numbers of gurnards 
obtained at each excursion, and the average for the different years. 
I his fish presents a remarkable variability in the manner in which 
it may be caught. We may be catching them fairly well in the trawl, 
and at the same time getting very few with the line. At other 
times we may be getting a fair number with both methods of fish- 
ing. On still other occasions they are caught well by the hook and 
not by the trawl. Our statistics for this fish are not verv satisfac- 
