24 Part III. — Twenty-fifth Annual Report 



These figures show the gradual decline in the quantity cured on vessels 

 and the increase of those cured on shore, but an examination of the 

 Table giving the annual quantities indicates that after 1889 a change 

 took place in the method of the returns, particularly in reference to the 

 quantity given as cured on shore. Thus, in 1889 the quantity so cured 

 was returned as 84,967 barrels, while in the following year it is given as 

 7,773 barrels. Before that date it seems that the herrings which were 

 not cured were included in the totals — that is to say, the herrings which 

 were sold fresh — but there ia nothing to show for how many years previ- 

 ously this method was adopted. From another table (Table III., p. 108) 

 which was published in the Annual Reports for the years 1843 to 1857, 

 and which purported to show the total catch of herrings landed in each 

 district, distinguishing those cured from those Avhich were not cured, it 

 appears that the latter were not included up to 1857, and the evidence 

 of the detailed table indicates that the change was probably made in 

 1879, the herrings sold fresh being apparently included in the totals in 

 that year and afterwards till 1889. There is, however, no certainty on 

 the point. 



The fluctuations in the quantities from year to year are shown in the 

 detailed table (Table I.), and the minimum and maximum numbers of 

 barrels cured in each decade are as follows : — 



The remark made above as to the inclusion of fish sold fresh among 

 the cured herrings in some of the years applies also to this table ; it is 

 therefore uncertain how far the figures can be taken as showing the 

 fluctuations in the yield of the fishery. 



For the district of Inveraray, which is the chief one to which attention 

 must be directed, a similar summary has been made, showing the average 

 annual number of barrels cured in each decade since 1809, with the 

 maximum and the minimum quantity for each of these periods. The 

 Table is as follows : — 



[Table. 



