THE TRAWLING EXCURSIONS. 
There is very little to say by way of preface to the report on the 
trawling experiments made this year along the coast of Northumber- 
land. The general objects and conditions have been specified in 
previous reports. Some changes were necessary in regard to the 
time devoted to some of the bays, which will have to be pointed out 
and explained before Table I. is compared with the similar table 
presented in previous reports. It ought to be mentioned, moreover, 
that while the length of the beam, of course, remained the same, 
viz., 22 feet, a new net was in operation during the first part of the 
season — until 26th July — when it was lost, at the end of the 
experiment of that date. For the remainder of the experiments, a 
net which was used in former years was again brought into requisi- 
tion. The weather on the whole was very favourable, and was 
indeed above the average, as is evidenced to some extent by the 
records of temperature. I beg to take the opportunity of offering 
once more our grateful thanks to Aid. John Dent for the use of the 
“ Livingstone,” and for the help which he and everyone who took 
part in the experiments, so kindly gave in making up our records, 
which as will be seen are now greatly extended. 
It has been said above that as Table I. stands, it does not offer 
a fair comparison with the results of previous years, and some 
considerations are necessary before we institute that comparison. 
This may be best done perhaps by briefly reviewing the conditions 
under which each excursion was made. 
Skate Roads was the scene of the first experiment on the 21st 
June. Three hauls were made of 1^, £, and 1 hour respectively, 
giving 3 hours in all. This may be taken as about one-tliird of the 
time devoted to this bay usually. Very few fish were obtained at 
the first two hauls (see complete record of first haul, page 16), the 
majority of those recorded being got at the third haul. Such 
variability in the catch is not usual, but its occurrence makes it still 
more difficult to bring this record into line with previous experi- 
ments. It seems to show, however, that the catch for that day 
would have been up to the average for Skate Roads. 
On the 23rd June, tw r o days afterwards, the same ground was 
again trawled over for 1| hours (10-45 a.m. to 3 p.m.), and we only 
got as the table shows, 31 fish as compared with 90 fish on the 
first occasion. This was certainly very much below the average for 
Skate Roads. 
