134 THE HERRING FISHERY 



for fishing at Yarmouth, Leith, Inverness, 

 Brassey Sound, Kirkwall, Oban, Campbell- 

 town and Whitehaven, and the bounty in 

 Scotland was no longer to be dependent upon 

 the production of a particular fund, but to be 

 paid punctually from the whole revenue of the 

 kingdom. 



In 1771, although a bounty on the herring 

 fishing was paid in the ports of England, it was 

 stopped in Scotland. Only nineteen busses 

 were fitted out in Scotland in 1770, and in 

 1771 only four, as against 263 in 1767. The 

 Scottish fishery was thus abandoned to 

 foreigners, who caught large quantities of 

 herrings on the coasts of Scotland and exported 

 them to our own West India Islands as food 

 for the slaves. 



Boswell in 1773 perceived the need of 

 *' encouragement of men to fisheries and manu- 

 factures " in order to introduce a circulation 

 of money, since the absence of small change 

 gave rise to serious inconveniences (" Tour," 

 September 24th, 1773). The theory of Govern- 

 ment bounties on the number of herring taken 

 was fundamentally sound ; though the boun- 

 ties were gradually reduced, the system con- 

 tinued in full force till 1821, ultimately ceasing 

 altogether in 1829. But bounties based on 

 tonnage were unsound. " The herring vessels," 

 in the words of one writer on economics, " went 

 to sea to catch the bounty, and not the fish." 

 From 1829 to 1851 the fisheries were unsup- 



