156 Part ITI —Twenty-third Annual Report 
VIIL—ON THE TAY SPRAT FISHERY, 
1904-1905. 
By Joun Fuetcuer, University College, Dundee. 
The sprat fishing during the past season has been exceptionally poor. 
Only 1348 crans of sprats, including young herrings, were taken out of 
the river this season, as against 14,966 crans during the season of 
1883-1884. 
The 1348 crans consisted of somewhere abovt 44 million young 
herrings and sprats, of which some 52 per cent., or 23 million, were 
young herrings measuring from 4°3 centimetres to 17°5 centimetres in 
length, and the other 21 million, or 42 per cent., were sprats measuring 
from 4 centimetres to 15 centimetres. 
Of the 1348 crans, some 894 crans were sold as fresh fish and sent off 
to the markets of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and other 
English towns; and some 454 crans (containing over 7 million young 
herrings) were sold to local farmers for manure. 
The 894 crans of fresh fish brought to the fishermen a sum of some- 
where about £220, and the 454 crans of manure brought in only some 
£20. 
A certain number of young herrings and sprats were also destroyed 
while the men were engaged at the sparling fishing further up the river. 
During October, November, and December, 1904, the number of sprat 
boats engaged at the sparling fishing varied from 5 to 20, and each net 
brought up along with the sparlings from 1 to 6 buckets of young 
herrings and sprats per day. During the latter half of January 1905 the 
number of boats varied from 10 to 26, and these were getting from 3 
buckets to 14 crans of young herrings and sprats. Very few were 
caught during the month of February. 
The young of other fishes are also annually destroyed by the sprat and 
sparling fishermen, but apparently not in any great quantities. The 
useful forms include the young of the whiting, cod, plaice, dab, flounder, 
and sparling, while among the inedible kinds were young and adult 
agoni, cotti, liparis, lumpsuckers, sand-eels, sticklebacks, &c. 
The Broughty-Ferry winter herring fishermen and the sprat fishermen 
strictly observed the line of division suggested at the Local Enquiry of 
January 1904, viz.:—a line drawn between Broughty-Ferry and Tayport, 
the sprat fishers being restricted to the part of the river above that line, 
and the Broughty-Ferry men never going beyond it. 
During the course of this season’s investigations 46 samples of mixed 
sprats, young herring, and other fish were bought and examined. The 
46 samples consisted of :— 
