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satisfactory. Commenting on this, the Commissioners 

 observe that the development of the fisheries on the Aber- 

 deenshire coast has led to the neglect of fisheries at other 

 places, the younger and more vigorous fishermen being 

 attracted to the most productive fishing ground. The de- 

 struction of the Wick Harbour has caused many of the 

 boats from that district to fish off the Aberdeenshire coast. 

 These causes have contributed to the falling off of the 

 fisheries elsewhere. But allowing for these considerations, 

 the Commissioners express an opinion that the vast amount 

 of netting now in use may have scared the fish from narrow 

 waters. They estimate the nets used by the Scotch herring 

 fishers to be sufficient to reach in a continuous line for 

 12,000 miles, to cover an area of 70 square miles, and to 

 be sufficient to go three times across the Atlantic from 

 Liverpool to New York. The substitution of cotton for 

 hemp nets may be said to have revolutionised the fishery. 

 A boat that used to carry 960 yards of netting, now carries 

 3,300 yards. The nets used to be 6 or 7 yards, they are 

 now 10 yards deep. They used to present a catching 

 surface of 3,000 square yards, they now present a catching 

 surface of 33,000 square yards ; without increasing the 

 weight of the nets to be worked, each boat has increased 

 its catching power fivefold. This vast extent of netting 

 certainly warrants the possibility assumed by the Commis- 

 sioners, that the nets may have scared the herrings from 

 narrow waters, but looking to the general results, they 

 decline to recommend any restrictive measures, entertaining 

 an opinion that the vast amount of netting has no effect in 

 diminishing the stock of herrings in the sea ; a conclusion 

 amply justified by the enormous take of herrings in 1880, 

 two years after the Commissioners' Report. Since then 

 herrings have also returned in greater number to some of 



