98 



Fart III. — Twenty-fifth Annual Report 



Table showing the Total Quantity of Herrings Caught (in Crans) per year from 1889 to 1906, 

 and the Percentage above or below the average catch for the period given. 



The mean annual quantity for Loch Fyne, Anatruther, and Loch Carron 

 district is very much the same, and it will be seen that the range of 

 variation from the mean in different years, or the amount of annual fluctua- 

 tion, is greater in the Loch Carron district than in Loch Fyne, while it 

 is practically the same in the Anstruther district as it is in Loch Fyne. 

 One may conclude, theretore, that the fluctuations in Loch Fyne are not 

 abnormally great, and are such as might be expected under natural 

 conditions. 



It may be noted, further, in connection with the fluctuations in Loch 

 Fyne that the bad years, in which the quantity of herrings caught is 

 small, are, as a rule, characterised by a scarcity of herrings in the later 

 months of the season. This is shown in the following table showing the 

 percentage proportions taken per month over the whole period, and in 

 the best and the worst years : — 



In the whole period the mean proportion taken in the last three months 

 is 27 per cent, of the whole ; in the five best years it is 37 percent., and 

 in the four worst years it is 23.8 per cent. 



The Influence of the Moon on thb Catch op Herrings. 



It is a common opinion that the changes of the moon have an 

 influence on the catches of herrings, and since the weekly reports offered 



