[7] 



THE BOHUSLAN HERRING FISHERIES. 



405 



Scoicli floatiiio-iiets filled with lieiriijo-, and ain- one jnaking- such an 

 assertion simply shows his entire ignorance of these fisheries. The 

 large Dutch and English tioating-net boats generally have ji larger 

 crew (the boats used in the great Dutch fisheries have 14 or 15, and 

 the Yarmonth boats have from 9 to 12 men), but, in spite of the greater 

 number of men they often find it very difficult, especially in bad weather, 

 or when the catch is unusually large, to haul in the floating-nets. 



The average quantity of herring caught by the boats engaged in the 

 fisheries on the east coast of Scotland during the exceptionally favora- 

 ble year 1882 was as follows : 



Loi:ility. 



At Wick 



At Lybster... 

 At Heliiisdalo 

 At Buckie . . 

 At Macduff.. 



Boats. 



600 



157 



160 



62 



66 



Barrels 

 per boat. 



116^ 

 11 



24J 

 73 1 

 148 



Locality. 



At Fraserburgh 

 At Peterhead . . . 

 At Aberdeen . . . 



At Montrose 



At Eyemouth. . . 



Boats. 



900 

 822 

 482 

 ICO 

 381 



Barrels 

 per boat. 



155 



151 



166* 



lT3i 



157 



At most of the smaller fishing stations, not given in the above state- 

 ment, the average quantity of herring caught was less that 100 barrels. 

 In average years or in unfa\'orable years the figures are of course 

 ' much lower than those given above ; but even at best they are too low 

 I to induce a Bohuslan fisherman to make a change to the Scotch method. 

 '/The reason why the Scotch fishermen can continue their fisheries eveu 

 after such a small yield as in 1882 at Lybster is that they make a good 

 .'living either by catching herring at other seasons of the year in other 

 'localities than the east coast of Scotland, or by engaging in other fish- 

 ^;eries. If we look at the difference in the quantity of fish caught by 

 (boats belonging to the same fishing station, we shall find that it is still 

 greater than the difference in the quantities caught at the different sta- 

 jtions, for floating-net fisheries in great measure resemble a game of 

 chance. 



If we now compare, on' the l)asis of the above data, the Scotch float- 

 •uig-net fisheries and our seine fisheries, as regards their economical ad- 

 Ijvantage, we shall find that for catching a certain quantity of herring 

 jwith floating-nets near the Scotch coast there are needed at least seven 

 times as many men and an apparatus costing eighteen times as much 

 p is needed on the coast of Bohuslan for catching the same quantity of 

 herring. This also explains why the Bohuslan herring-fisheries did not 

 amount to much during the herring period of the seventeenth century, 

 ' for during that period the fisheries were exclusively carried on with large 

 )iets resembling the seines, which required a very large number of fisher- 

 rnen but which yielded only a small quantity of fish. Only with the 

 ^ines employed in Bohuslan at the present time is it possible to make 

 pig catches with a small number of fishermen and cheap apparatus. If 

 in making this comparison we also take into account the difference in 



