302 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



Skerries. Scapa Flow is also a good fishing ground for 

 both herrino^s and some kinds of line-fish. The herrino; 

 fishery generally is subject to great fluctuation, and 

 the number of barrels cured at the Orkneys daring the 

 six years, 1867-72, varied between 9000 and 25,000 

 annually. 



In the northern islands the fisheries are principally 

 for cod, ling, saithe or coalfisli, and a few tusk ; but 

 the last are essentially a northern species, and are not 

 found in any abundance south of the Shetlands. They 

 are quite unknown on the English coast, but are very 

 numerous in the Norwegian seas. They may be roughly 

 described as resembling a very short-bodied ling, but 

 without any division in the dorsal fin. Haddocks, 

 although never very abundant on the Orkney coast, 

 and, as elsewhere, very capricious in their movements, 

 are frequently taken ; cod and ling are, however, the 

 most valuable products of the line-fishery, and at one 

 time there was a considerable direct export of tlje dried 

 fish to the Spanish market, 700 or 800 tons being sent 

 thither annually. It now goes by way of Shetland, 

 various circumstances having in late years interfered 

 with the direct trade. 



In Kirkwall Bay very large numbers of young coal- 

 fish or sillocks are taken by the sean, or, as it is there 

 called, the sweep-net ; and the same kind of net is used 

 by the poorer fishermen on other parts of the coast, 

 several families perhaps uniting to provide and work it. 

 These young fish are useful for both food and bait, and 

 at times the catches have been so large as to be almost 

 unsaleable. 



Lobster fisliing at the Orkneys has always been 

 carried on successfully, the rocky nature of the coast 

 being very suitable to the habits of these crustaceans ; 



