the medium sizes, and to warrant the inference that probably only the larger haddock were saved in the earlier period when the species was less energetically sought. The large plaice have slightly more than maintained their proportional importance.

Considering the facts developed and the brevity of the period which it is possible to discuss, we can draw no conclusions excepting the dubious one that the supply of plaice in the White Sea may not be sufficient for the maintenance of the fishery for that species on the scale which it has attained.

FAROE.

This region, which is the smallest of the four considered in this discussion of the English fisheries, lies about midway between the North Sea and Iceland. Its product, which is about 7 per cent of all demersal fishes landed in England, is greater than that of the White Sea but less than that of Iceland.

About 85 to 90 per cent of the fishes in this region are taken by steam trawlers, which made 1,085 trips in 1906 and 1,303 in 1912. The total number of days' absence was 17,215 in 1906 and 18,445 in 1912, the average duration of the voyages in the two years being 15.8 and 14 days respectively. The total catch and the average per voyage are shown in the following tables:

TOTAL CATCH OF DEMERSAL FISHES, CLASSES, AND IMportant KinDS BY ENGLISH STEAM TRAWLERS FISHING ON FAROE GROUNDS, 1906 And 1912.

AVERAGE CATCH PER LANDING BY ENGLISH STEAM TRAWLERS FISHING ON FAROE

The total catch of demersal fishes showed a slight improvement, but this was due to an increase in the intensity of the fishery. The quantity of plaice taken was insignificant, the principal flat fishes of the region being halibut and skates, the combined catch of which exhibited a large decrease both in the total and the average per voyage.

Cod and haddock are the principal species taken, and of these the cod, the more important, was caught in greater quantities, while the take of haddock diminished. An examination of the following table shows that the improvement in the yield of cod was due solely to an increase in the quantity of small and medium fish marketed, the large fish undergoing an actual quantitative decrease. The same trend is shown in the catch of haddock, in which there was an actual increase in the quantities of medium and small fish in the face of a falling off in the total catch of the species.

PROPORTION OF THE TRADE CATEGORIES TO TOTAL CATCHES OF COD AND HADDOCK TAKEN ON FAROE GROUNDS BY ENGLISH STEAM TRAWLERS IN QUADRENNIAL PERIODS FROM 1906 TO 1912.

In view of the relatively small importance of the line fishery, it is not considered necessary to discuss it more than in the presentation of the following table:

TOTAL CATCH OF DEMERSAL FISHES, CLASSES, AND IMPORTANT KINDS BY ENGLISH STEAM LINERS FISHING ON FAROE GROUNDS IN 1906 AND 1912.

The Faroe fishery, as a whole, furnishes no data of value respecting the plaice, but making due allowance for the shortness of the period considered, the data available establish some presumption of a decrease in the haddock and a suspicion that there may be overfishing of the cod.

HD-63-3-vol 104-6

DEMERSAL FISHERIES OF SCOTLAND.

FISHING REGIONS.

The Scottish reports furnish but little specific data respecting the fishing regions, such distinctions as are made indicating merely the part of Scotland in which the fish are landed, the east coast, Orkney, and Shetland, and the west coast, respectively. The latter two are of practically no importance to the purposes of this report and are not discussed.

The major portion of the demersal fish caught in the Scottish fisheries are landed on the east coast; and as that is the region in which trawl fishing is of greatest importance, and as practically all fish taken in the North Sea by Scottish vessels are landed there, it is the only region which we have deemed it necessary to consider.

FISHERIES OF THE EAST COAST.

The statistics and the general information available for Scotland are not very satisfactory for the consideration of the effects of otter trawling on the fisheries, inasmuch as they lack, even to a greater extent than the earlier reports for England, that particularity of data which is necessary for a proper consideration of the subject. However, it is possible to trace some trend, and as this accords in general with that indicated in the English fisheries, it may be regarded, with some caution, as confirmatory of the conclusions formed respecting the latter.

In the following discussion the same historical periods and subperiods are considered, partly for the sake of uniformity with the discussion of the English data and partly because the forms of the statistics underwent some change in the years of demarcation, or because some change in the fishery became definitive in those years. For instance, 1898 is the first year concerning which it is known that all steam trawlers were using the otter trawl, which had gradually replaced the beam trawl; in 1904 there was a change in the classification of the fishes; and in 1906 there was a material change in the particularity of the statistics in respect to certain important fisheries. The effects of these changes have been eliminated as far as possible in the following pages, but their existence dictated the form of the more comprehensive digest found in the appendix and colored the form of final presentation of the data adduced.

THE CATCH AS A WHOLE.

The east coast was by far the most important producer of demersal fishes in Scotland, the catch of that region in 1891 being over 70 per cent of the total product of the country and in 1912 over 76 per cent.

The statistical history of the yield of the region is shown in the following table:

CATCHES OF DEMERSAL FISHES AND THE SEVERAL CLASSES ON THE EAST Coast of SCOTLAND DURING THE FIRST AND LAST YEARS OF CERTAIN PERIODS.

From the foregoing table it is seen that there has been a constant and fairly uniform increase in the catch of demersal fishes, amounting in the aggregate to about 90 per cent from 1891 to 1912, and that both relatively and quantitatively this has been in major part produced by the constant increase in the catch of round fishes, which in the same period increased 93 per cent in quantity.

Flat fishes registered an increase of 42 per cent for the period, due mainly to a heavy increase from 1898 to 1901, after which there was a decrease to and including 1912. Unclassified fishes, including those classified after 1903, fluctuated until 1903, but increased afterwards until the total at the end of the period was 42 per cent greater than in 1891. The catch of skates increased heavily and continuously throughout the period.

Cod, haddock, flounder, plaice and brill, and halibut are the most important species of demersal fishes landed on the east coast of Scotland, and these kinds combined constituted 55.8 per cent of the land

ings of demersal fishes of all Scotland in 1891, and about 53.3 per cent in 1912. Cod and haddock landed on the east coast in 1891 constituted nearly 61 per cent of Scottish round fishes and in 1912 nearly 57 per cent. In 1891 the flat fishes enumerated comprised about 43 per cent, and in 1912, 25 per cent of the country's landing of flat fishes. Furthermore, the catch of each of these species on the east largely exceeds the catch in all other regions. For these reasons, it is necessary to consider these fishes only in discussing the fluctuations of the fishery.

CATCH PER ANNUM AT THE BEGINNING AND ENDING OF CERTAIN PERIODS OF EACH OF THE MORE IMPORTANT SPECIES OF DEMERSAL FISHES LANDED ON THE EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND.

From the foregoing it is apparent that both the cod and haddock, but especially the former, landed on the east coast of Scotland, exhibited material increases in total quantity between 1891 and 1912, and this increase occurred in all of the periods considered excepting from 1898 to 1901 in the case of the cod, and 1906 to 1912 in the case of the haddock. Halibut increased for the whole period and showed a recession only between 1901 and 1903, while flounder, plaice, and brill decreased on the whole and showed improvement between 1901