82 Part III. — Twenty-fifth Annual Report 



All the years 1871-1880 were below the average, and the quantities 

 taken in the years 1871-1875 were especially small. 



In 1871 the aggregate was 13,515 crans, or about half of what the 

 catch was in the previous year; of this quantity only 1172 crans were 

 taken in the upper loch. In January, 1840 crans were taken, all about 

 Skipness and the upper part of Kilbrennan Sound, where a shoal was 

 reported to be. On 3rd June it was reported that herrings appeared to 

 extend all the way from Skipness to Furnace, and in this month 3415 

 crans were taken, the best of the year, of which 680 were got in the 

 upper loch ; at the end of the month a prosperous season was anticipated. 

 In July the herrings were scarcer, and at the end of the month the fisher- 

 men were getting discouraged, and they blamed the heavy rains for 

 having driven the herrings away, or into deep water. In August it was 

 still more disappointing, the fishing being, as it had been from the first, 

 chiefly between Tarbert and Skipness, towards the mouth of the loch, 

 and the fishermen did not remember a season when herrings were so 

 scarce in the loch. In September the fishing was only about Skipness, 

 the total for the month being 717 crans. In October it improved, but 

 was still only at the mouth of the loch. During the rest of the year few 

 herrings were caught in Loch Fyne, most of the fish in November and 

 December being taken about Skipness and the adjacent part of Kil- 

 brennan Sound. 



In 1872 the aggregate was less, viz., 9057 crans, of which 473 were 

 got in the upper loch. In January trials were made, but no herrings 

 caught. In June only 715 crans were landed, nearly all from Skipness; 

 it was the same in July, the fishing being at Skipness and up to near 

 Tarbert. In August also nothing was got. except about Skipness and 

 in Kilbrennan Sound ; " there is nothing to be got in Loch Fyne," said 

 the Officer on August 6th, " but a few mackerel." In September and 

 October such fishing as tUere was was about the mouth of the loch, at 

 Skipness and Kilbrennan Sound, occasionally at Ardlamont. In 

 November an improvement took place, and herrings were caught from 

 about Ardlamont to above Otter, and in the next week (ended 23rd) 

 part of the shoal had got up to Minard, and in the last week of the 

 month good hauls were got from Tarbert to Minard. In the early part 

 of December the fishermen said the herrings had left the upper loch and 

 moved rapidly towards Skipness and Kilbrennan Sound, and 700 crans 

 were taken in the first week. After this only a few were got at Skip- 

 ness, 



In 1873 the total for the year sank to 3648 crans, the lowest in all 

 the records, and of this 185 crans were got in the upper loch. There 

 was no "appearance" of herrings in January. In June and July the 

 fishing was poor, those got being obtained mostly near Tarbert. In 

 August only 134 crans were landed, and most of them it would appear 

 came from Kilbrennan Sound. The same conditions prevailed during 

 the rest of the season, most of the boats which continued the fishing 

 doing so in Kilbrennan Sound, returning at the end of the week, and 

 most of the herrings landed in September and October came from other 

 waters apparently. There was no fishing after October, and meetings of 

 fishermen were held at Ardrishaig complaining of seining, which, it 

 was believed by many, was a cause of the dearth. 



In 1874 the aggregate for the year was but little higher, namely, 4806 

 crans, of which 62 were obtained in the upper loch. No trials were 

 made in January, and there is no record of any " appearance " of 

 herrings. In June, trammels were tried at various places in Upper Loch 

 Fyne, and a few herrings were got all the way up to Inveraray ; some 



