§ Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the progress made by the Aberdeen Marine Laboratory in its investigations into the growth of marine plants in certain areas of the sea as food for fish and the effect of those investigations on the locations, habits, numbers and species of fish in those areas and as a result on the fishing industry.
§ Mr. BuchananThe work of the Marine Laboratory on the basic production of phyto-plankton has brought to light many of the features of the average cycle of herring migration, and we hope that it will lead to an understanding of the causes of yearly fluctuations and long-term trends in abundance of herring, which have an obvious effect on the wellbeing of the fishing industry.
Experiments are also in progress at Loch Ewe to improve the production of phyto-plankton by adding nutrients to the water and so to increase the growth rate of young plaice by enhancing the food supply.