MUSSEL BEDS OF SCOTLAND 39 



The group of beds in the Moray Firth are 

 much reduced by reckless fishing, and now cannot 

 supply the needs of the purely local fishermen. 

 This scarcity aggravates the poaching disposition, 

 so common in the north, and frequently turns the 

 procuring of mussel bait into an hereditary strife 

 amongst fishermen of neighbouring villages. Men 

 here are frequently reduced to such poor bait as 

 limpets. 



If the vast extent of scalps situated in the 

 Inverness and Cromarty Firths alone were 

 properly protected and cultivated, nuclear areas 

 would be formed which could provide a supply of 

 seed for all the other scalps in the Moray Firth, 

 besides forming a greatly increased stock of bait 

 for fishermen far and near. 



