of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 9 



In the present volume a report by Dr. Wemyss Fulton will be 

 found dealing with the statistics of the herring fisheries in the 

 Firth of Clyde during past years ; and also descriptive of the 

 methods of fishing employed and of the former enquiries made on 

 the subject. The statistics are of two kinds — those published in 

 the annual reports, and those derived from the weekly report 

 books of the various districts. The former go back for nearly a 

 century, to the year 1809, when the Board of British White 

 Herring Fishery was established. They, however, only include the 

 quantities of herrings which were cured, either on shore or on 

 board vessels, for the greater part of the period, and which were 

 landed in the districts. In a series of tables appended to the 

 report these statistics are summarised, both in regard to the 

 herrings which were cured and in regard to the numbers of fisher- 

 men and boats which were employed in the various districts of the 

 Clyde. The second class of statistics go back to the year 1854, so 

 that they cover the considerable period of 53 years, and they are 

 of especial value as showing not only the quantity of herrings 

 landed per week, month, and year throughout the period, but also, 

 in the great majority of cases, the places where the fish were mostly 

 caught throughout the season. These statistics are also summar- 

 ised in a series of tables appended to the report. 



With regard first of all to the productiveness of the herring 

 fishery in the Firth of Clyde as a whole, the statistics show that 

 the latter part of the period was more productive than the first 

 part. The aggregate quantity of herrings taken in the 53 years 

 was 3,314,585 crans, or about 11,601,000 cwts., the mean anuudl 

 quantity being 62,540 crans. In the first twenty-six yeai's, 

 1854-1879, the quantity landed was 1,254,902 crans, the average 

 per annum being 48,270 crans ; whereas in the last twenty-six 

 years, 1881-1906, the gross quantity landed was 1,950,849 crans, 

 the annual mean being 75,030 crans. The excess in the total 

 quantity landed in the latter period was thus 695,947 crans, while 

 the excess in the mean per annum was 26,760 crans. 



This increase in the yield of the herring fishery was caused by 

 the increase in the two western districts of Campbeltown and 

 Inveraray or Loch Fyne. Taking them together the mean annual 

 catch in the years 1854-1879 was 29,810 crans, while in the years 

 1881-1906 it was 56,523 crans, an average annual increase of 

 26,713 crans. In Loch Fyne the increase was from 22,986 crans in 

 the earlier period to 27,375 crans in the latter period, the mean 

 annual increase being 4389 crans. In the Campbeltown district 

 the mean in the first period was 14,452 crans, and in the last 

 period 26,944 crans, the mean annual increase being 12,492 crans. 

 These figures show that the herring fishery in those districts has 

 on the whole increased in the period. In the other three districts 

 in the Clyde, Eothesay, Greenock, and Ballantrae, on the other 

 hand, the average annual yield has diminished; in the first by 

 3290 crans, in the second by 2100 crans, and in the third by 2658 

 crans, in the periods shown in the Tables. 



