172
INVESTIGATIQNS IN FORTH, 1895,
'
period the number of hauls in May was the highest in the whole ;
series of months in the ten years, viz. 14 in 1891 and 13 in 1892,
—
and producing respectively 597 gurnards in 1891 and 730 in
These alone would make a considerable difference in the
average of the second period of ve years; indeed, the gures
to be pitted against them during the whole of the rst period
’
in May are just 181 and 139 respectively.
The gurnard,
:
therefore, was under different ci;«cumstanceS in the second half
'
’
of the experiments.
_
In glancing at the monthly aggregates during the ten years ,
in the Forth, the. effect of the seasonal variations just alluded
to in the gurnardare striking. To have drawn conclusions from
a series of experiments carried out in January, February, March,
»
November and December would have given very erroneous
results, for the total of the gurnards captured in these months
ainounted to only 93, not a fth of those seCured in April or in
October, while these ve months 'give numbers only a twenty—
:
eighth of those secured in May, the month in which the
_
maximum occurred.
As May is the month _in which the
majority of the gurnards are ripe, this increase is apParently
with the function of reproduction. It may
be
questioned also whether, in view of this natüral consensus in
the warmer months, any
made by man to alter» the
“balance would have much effect, since the forces at work are
beyond his control.
.
'
'
The tôt-al number of lemon-dabs_ in 1895 was 1018 or an ‘)
'_
average
of 13 per haul, a number less by three than in 1886,
“when the experiments commencked, though one more than in
j
The reÿiewer in the 14th Report of the Fishery Board
einphasises the fact that the-average of 'this valuable
,r…;fOÔÇ1—sh .had fallen bothin
the Closed and in the Open area‘fâ'Ï-Ïi
last period of ve years, a result probablydue-‘ÿto
; .depletionsof the offshore gronnds
rst period, howeve1,
î
the? second. mregmdtoth15
ïspeœesthe max_imum captures ,0frwhiè‘h;.occuf mJuneJul}