PISHING STATIONS— SCOTLAND, 331 



herrings are usually met with in Lochfyne and the 

 neighbouring inland waters appears to he due to their 

 situation at the head of the Firth of Clyde. It is not 

 very easy to say where the fish caught in June, at the 

 beginning of the summer season, come from ; probably 

 many fish remain in the loch thronghout the year, but 

 later there is no doubt that the shoals enter the Firth on 

 its western side and proceed northwards to its head. 

 Continuing in the same direction, their course would 

 lead them into Lochfyne and the Kyles of Bute, and at 

 times into Lochlong and Gareloch.^ 



It is a matter of wide experience that the movements 

 of herrings are very capricious ; the general body of 

 the fish — the shoals which successively appear on a 

 particular part of the coast, may be found in one year 

 filling every creek and bay ; in the next they may not 

 come very near the land, and the inshore fisherj" may 

 be a failure. This applies equally to the pilchards on 

 the Cornish coast. It can hardly therefore be sur- 

 prising that the herring fishery in the narrow inland 

 waters of Lochfyne should be very uncertain, and that 

 the shoals of fish should not always penetrate to its 

 farthest extremity. No doubt a certain number of fish 

 spawn there and perhaps remain in the loch throughout 

 the year ; but the general opinion among tlie fishermen 

 is that the shoals which come in during the season 

 leave it again and go southwards, some of them to the 

 spawning ground of Ballantrae, which was said to 

 have been much resorted to for that purpose in former 

 times, although less frequented in later years. Full 

 fish, however, are generally numerous in Lochfyne 

 during August or September, and, of course, when 



' There were large fisheries off Grecnoclv in 18G7 and 1SG8, and the acau- 

 trawls were extensively used there in both years. 



