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.
IV.
.
,
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS IN THE FRITH or FORTE.
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1886—1896.
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TABLES VIII. to XII.
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à
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THE area.0f the Forth, which comprises 250 nautical square
'
miles, differs in a marked manner from the open sandy bay of
‘_
St Andrews, both in regard to the nature of the bottom and
the depth of water. These distinctions are clearly set forth in
_
_
the Fifth Annual Report of the Fishery Board1 in the descrip—
tion of the nine trawlig stations of this area, the salient Ï
_
features in contrast with St Andrews being the frequent occur.
rence of 1nud, stones ,andshells as well as sand, with such‘forms
_
as
oysters, mussels, clams and Norway-lobsters. The depth,
moreover, ranges from 10 to 20 fathoms. Though much marine '
zoological work has been done for generations in the Forth, the
,
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precise condition of its sh—fauna just before the closure was
less accurately known than that of St Andrews Bay, mainly
because the trawling ships chiey worked beyond its limits.
It is true that the otter-traWl was used in 1858, and probably
earlier, on the sandy ats, mainly for scientic purposes,
but no
.
’
'_
acCurate records of the captures are available for comparison.
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Accordingly, the rst season’s work
of the “Garland” (in 1886),
,
_
with such supplementary evidence of a reliable kind as exists,
forms the chief guide in dealing
with the area.
,
rst sè‘ason’s workin the FOrth commenced in June,
,
.
_
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1
pp. 52—54.
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