of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 159 
VI—ON THE TAY SPRAT FISHERY, 
1905-1906. 
By Joun Fuercuer, University College, Dundee. 
I regret to report that the Tay sprat fishing has again been a compara- 
tive failure. Only 1371 crans of sprats, including young herrings, were 
taken out of the river this season, as against 1348 crans during last 
season 1904-1905, and 14,966 crans during the season of 1883-1884. 
The 1371 crans consisted of somewhere about 28 million sprats and 
young herrings, of which some 57 per cent., or 16 million, were sprats 
measuring from about 4°5 centimetres to 14°5 centimetres in length, and 
the other 11 million, or 42 per cent., were young herrings measuring from 
4°3 centimetres to 17°5 centimetres. 
The bulk of the fish were caught during the first half of November, 
and at that time the sprats were of large size and of first-class quality, 
and the prospects of a good fishing season, which were afterwards 
completely disappointed, appeared to be excellent. The large size of 
these sprats contrasted greatly with the much smaller and younger sprats 
of last season, and caused a striking difference in the relative numbers 
of fish per cran during the two seasons. 
Last season the average number of fish per cran was 28,800, and this 
season it was 19,200 during the first half of November, and 24,000 
during the rest of the season. 
Most of the fish were sent off fresh to the various English markets; a 
fair proportion, however, were salted and shipped to Germany for sardine 
purposes, while a small fraction were either sold for manure or thrown 
into the river, mostly while the men were at the sparling fishing. 
The 1371 crans of fresh and salted fish brought to the fishermen a sum 
of somewhere about £350. ‘ 
During January and February, while the men were at the sparling 
fishing, it was often difficult and sometimes impossible to obtain accurate 
information regarding the quantities of young herrings and sprats captured 
along with the sparlings. The difficulty was mainly due to the great 
scarcity of fish, and to the fact that small quantities were being sent off 
from Newburgh by the fishermen themselves, whilst other small quanti- 
ties were taken to the Dundee Fish Dock, situated at the extreme east 
end of the city. 
I ascertained, however, that the number of sprat boats engaged at the 
spatling fishing varied from 1 to 20 during the latter half of December 
and the whole of January, and from 1 to 7 during February. Each boat 
during December and January brought in along with the sparlings from 
1 bucket to 2 crans of young herrings and sprats per day, while during 
February the average quantity was only about 2 or 3 buckets per day. 
Unlike last season, the Broughty-Ferry fishermen and the sprat fisher- 
men paid no heed to the Board’s recommendation of January, 1904, 
namely:—that both fishermen should observe a line of division drawn 
