40 



shoals of autumn spawning herrings, the young of which will he 

 drifted south and form other shoals. The result will be that there 

 will be a close relationship between all the shoals found from the 

 most northerly and westerly localities to the most southerly one 

 coming under the influence of the drift of the young. 



The southerly drift does not appear to come below the latitude 

 of the Wash, and this may isolate somewhat the shoals of the 

 southern North Sea. But there is a possibility of 3"oung herrings 

 coming from the Wash joining the more northerly shoals of young 

 fish of East Anglian waters, and the occurrence of suitable winds 

 may bring additions to the southern part of the North Sea. 

 Fulton* found the influence of wind sufficient to reverse the 

 surface currents. Savage | found young herrings from the Wash 

 having a small first year growth very similar to the first year 

 growth of many of the fish in the Yarmouth samples. 



There are three shoals of young herrings which are interesting, 

 and these are those of the west of the Shetlands, the west of the 

 Orkneys, and the Atlantic side of Barra. These shoals fluctuate 

 considerably, and a consideration of their fluctuations and the 

 prevailing winds during their denatation would probably be of 

 great help in determining their origin. 



Time has not allowed of a detailed analysis of the herring 

 catches from various areas, and a consideration of the effects of 

 the weather on the fishery in order to produce a large amount 

 of evidence to support the theory of contranatation, but some 

 interesting data have been obtained from various reports of the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland. In 1892 the summer fishery of the 

 East Coast was most productive. For Eyemouth it was stated 

 that never in the memory of the oldest inhabitant had such great 

 shoals continued on the coast. The Cromarty fishing was the most 

 successful for twenty j^ears, and there had been nothing to approach 

 it since 1870. The fishing from Wick and the Orkneys was not 

 so good as that further south, and the Shetland fishing was a failure. 

 Two years afterwards, 1894, the Orkney and Shetland fishing 

 had a remarkable success, the catches being double those for 1893, 

 which were double those for 1892. Six years later, 1900, vast 

 catches were reported from Shetland waters. 



* Op. cit., p. 362. 



t Report on Age Determinations from Scales of Young Herrings. Fish Invest , Series 

 II., vol. IV., No. 1, 1919. 



