of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 139 



Orkney and Shetland. 



Pelagic Fish. — The fish of this group consist almost entirely of the 

 herring, no sprats being included in the returns, and very few mackerel. 

 The aggregate quantity of herrings landed in the twenty years, 1889- 

 1908, amounted to 21,009,969 cwts., the average per annum being 

 1,050, '198 cwts. In the first ten years the qu.antity was 4,872,313 cwts. 

 and the average 487,231 cwts.; in the last ten years the quantity was 

 16,137,656 cwts. and the average 1,613,766 cwts. There was thus the 

 very large increase of 11,265,343 cwts., or about 231 per cent. The 

 increase in the quantity was fairly steady throughout the period ; the 

 highest amounts landed were in 1905 — 2,409,862 cwts. — and 1904 — 

 2,045,613 cwts. — and the lowest in 1892, when the total amounted to 

 163,075 cwts., and 1889, when it was 189,591 cwts. The quantities 

 arranged in quinquennial periods are as follows : — 



Y'ears. Cwts. Years. Cwts. 



1889-1893 276,935 i 1899-1903 1,234,321 



1894-1898 697,528 | 1904-1908 1,993,210 



Tlie total quantity of mackerel taken in the twenty years was 2924 cwts., 

 with an average per annum of 146 cwts. The progress of this fishery is 

 indicated by the figures of quantities in the quinquennial periodsj viz., 40, 

 97, 186, and 261 cwts. 



Round Fishes. — The quantity of cod taken in the twenty years amounted 

 1,692,770 cwts., with an average per annum of 84,638 cwts. In the first 

 years the aggregate was 1,084,192 cwts., the avei'age being 108,419 cwts. ; 

 in the second ten years the quantity was 608,578 cwts. and the average 

 60,858 cwts. There was thus a decrease of about 44 per cent., and it was 

 entirely in connection with line fishing. The quantity taken by line in 

 the years 1892-1899 was 719,777 cwts., the average per annum being 

 89,972 cwts., whereas in the years 1901-1908 the quantity was 341,839 

 cwts., the average being 42,730 cwts., and the decrease about 53 per cent. 

 The quantity taken by trawl in the first period was 21,045 cwts., the 

 average being 2631 cwts. ; in the second period the quantity was 160,705 

 cwts. and the average 20,088 cwts. The increase of the trawled cod 

 landed thus amounted to about 663 per cent. About 68 per cent, of the 

 total cod landed in the years 1901 - 1908 was, however, caught by line. 



The quantity of ling landed in the twenty years was 511,7^2 cwts., the 

 average per annum being 27,085 cwts. In the period 1889-1898 the 

 quantity was 424,566 cwts., the average being 42,457 cwts. ; in the second 

 period, 1899-1908, the total was 117,136 cwts., the annual average being 

 11,714 cwts. There was thus a decrease of 307,430 cwts. in the second 

 period, or about 72 per cent. With the exception of 1541 cwts. landed by 

 trawlers between 1900 and 1908, all the ling were taken by line. 



The aggregate of the tusk landed in the twenty years was 90,976 cwts., 

 the average being 4549 cwts. In the first ten years the quantity was 

 59,706 cwts. and the average 5971 cwts.; in the last ten years the 

 quantity was 31,270 cwts. and the average 3127 cwts., showing a decrease 

 of about 48 per cent. All the tusk were caught by line, except 15 cwts. 

 in 1906 and 1908. 



The total of the saithe in the twenty years was 474,830 cwts., with an 

 average of 23,741 cwts. Contrasting the first ten years and the last ten, 

 there was a decrease in the latter period of 173,536 cwts., or over 53 per 

 cent. The great bulk of the saithe was taken by line, but in 1900 and 

 1901, and 1905-1908, some hundreds of cwts. were landed by trawlers. 

 The decrease in the line-caught saithe, contrasting the two periods 1892- 

 1899 and 1901-1808, amounted to 150,000 cwts., or nearly 60 per cent. 



