FISHING STATIONS— SCOTLAND. 287 



all other fisheries, that for sprats is somewliat fluctu- 

 ating' ; tliere does not appear, however, to be any 

 indication of a permanent decrease in the supply ; the 

 takes have been very large during the last two seasons, 

 and it is stated in the Report of the Fishery Board in 

 1872 that the supply in that year was so large it was 

 at one time difficult to obtain as much as one shillino' 

 per barrel for the fish. 



On the north side of the Firth there are numerous 

 fishing villages coming within the Customs district of 

 Kirkcaldy, which may be taken as nearly correspond- 

 ing with the Fishery Board's district of Anstruther, the 

 most important station on that side of the Firth. Besides 

 the usual drift and line fisheries, there is some beam- 

 trawling from this district. It is not very important, 

 however, but deserves notice as the only fishery of the 

 kind on the east side of Scotland, with the exception of a 

 little which we understand has recently been attempted 

 on the coast of Kincardineshire. The present style of 

 fishing boat is only adapted for trawling in compara- 

 tively shallow water, and the deep water, strong tides, 

 and generally rough bottom along the Scotch coast are 

 not favourable to deep-sea trawling in that part of the 

 North Sea. A steam-trawler from Leith was at work 

 for a short time a few years ago, but did not succeed as 

 she was expected to do ; we could not ascertain, how- 

 ever, whether the failure was due to the scarcity of fish 

 or the excessive expense. 



Mackerel are found in the Firth about the end of 

 July and in August, but only a few are caught, and 

 those by hook and line ; most of the fishermen are then 

 engaged in the all-important herring fishery. 



Lobsters are taken in creels, sometimes called trunks ; 

 the hoop-net called by the latter title on the Yorkshire' 



