SCOTCH FISHERIES. 183 



Almost every kind of explanation of the general scar- 

 city of fish in the upper parts of the loch has been 

 suggested, with very little evidence to support it ; and 

 since " trawling" has been again permitted, that system 

 of fishing has been once more charged with keeping 

 the herrings away. In 1874, three Scotch gentlemen 

 of position, and who were likely to command the con- 

 fidence of the fishermen, formed themselves into a 

 private committee to inquire into the cause of the 

 failure of the Lochfyne fishery : and in the following 

 year they submitted a Keport, with certain recom- 

 mendations, to the Lord Advocate of Scotland. With 

 reference to trawling keeping the fish out of the loch, 

 a question to which the Committee appear to have 

 given considerable attention, they say: "The fact 

 cannot be explained away, that the fish seem to be 

 at present disinclined to enter other narrow waters 

 where trawling is unknown." I need hardly say any- 

 thing about the general result of their inquiry, as 

 it has been shown that the Committee had not made 

 themselves sufficiently acquainted with the entire sub- 

 ject for their recommendations to be of any practical 

 value ; but the fact mentioned by them, of the herrings 

 seeming at present disinclined to enter other narrow 

 lochs where there has been no " trawling," should have 

 some effect in silencing the discontented drift-fishermen 

 of Lochfyne. 



On the coast south of the Firth of Clyde, good 

 fishing for both cod and turbot is to be had on a large 

 bank off Ballantrae, well known as a resort for herrings 

 at the spawning time. The larger fish are probably 



