CHAP, vi.j STATISTICS. 2*75 



generally made in two or three voyages. The number of boats 

 in Scotland and the Isle of Man, whether decked or undecked, 

 irrespective of the places to which they belong, employed 

 in the herring-fishery of 1862, for one selected week in 

 each district, was 9067, manned by 43,468 fishermen and 

 boys, and employing 22,471 persons as coopers, gutters, 

 packers, and labourers, making a total of persons employed 

 65,939. Of the total number of boats, 1122 fished at 

 Wick, 960 at Loch Broom, 900 at Stornoway, 783 at Eye- 

 mouth, and 700 at Peterhead. The total number of boats 

 employed in the shore-curing herring, and cod and ling 

 fisheries in 1862 was 12,545, with an aggregate tonnage of 

 88,871, and valued at 272,960. The value of nets and lines 

 belonging to these boats is estimated at 474,834. The boats 

 are manned by 41,008 fishermen and boys, the curers and 

 coopers employed amount to 2756, and the number of other 

 persons employed is estimated at 50,098. In 1863 there was 

 an increase of 47 boats, but a decrease of 150 fishermen and 

 boys, while there was an increase of 34,369 in the estimated 

 value of boats and nets.* 



I have placed on the following page a complete journal of 

 the daily catch of herrings at Wick for the season of 1862, in 

 order to show the progress of the fishing. 



* Since the above was written, the report by the commissioners for 

 1864 has been published, but the figures differ so slightly from those 

 of 1863 that it is unnecessary to give them in detail, the total quan- 

 tity of herrings cured being a decrease of 11,166^ barrels, while, as 

 regards boats and men employed, there was an increase of 140 boats, 

 126 fishermen and boys, and of .29,931 in the estimated value of 

 boats and nets. The winter herring-fishery on the north-east coast 

 about Wick, Lybster, and Helmsdale, was, contrary to expectation, quite 

 unsuccessful. The probable cause was the very boisterous state of the 

 weather, which prevented the boats from getting to sea. This year, 

 therefore, affords no evidence either for or against the opinion that 

 herrings exist in sufficient quantities to render a winter herring-fishery 

 remunerative upon the coasts during the winter months. 



