18 



F I S H E U I E a 



•nil coinifin^ntly the nyntpm might b« rinlrtly gnt rfil of by the 

 curern i'i-a)(iiig tn miiki' ihi' of it. Tliu ri'siilt ha.i Til-en precinfly the 

 rerrnie ; 111111 the argniiiiiit nguiiiHt the cniitiniiaiirii iirbraiullng on 

 the gronnj of the exiienseH in niiini'xinn witli it liai lieen cuiiHiil- 

 emlily weaken-d by the I'lwt tliat the lyvtein iv now to a Urge ex- 

 tent «elf-iii|i|Mirting. 



The following tiilile ahnws the nmnnnt of fee» collected in the 

 years 1859 77, lu accordance with tlie Act '21 wnd 23 Vict. 

 ap. 89(1868); — 



m 



On the west coast of Snotliind the herring flsliory is also of grcnt 

 iin|iortance, nnd, 0.1 wu linvu |irevioimly nientioiicd, it bogiiiR uarilfi' 

 than that on the eiMtern nide. Tliero is ngowl dciil of curing in tlie 

 Stornoway district, but the brand is in little favour. It is iillegid 

 that the western flsli, especially those caught early in the season, 

 •re more delicate than those taken on the east const, and will not 

 bear the do.. ' packing reijuisito for ensuring the proper weight in 

 each barrel if it is to receive the brand. 'Flie real explanation is 

 doubtless that the curers are anxious to catch the market as soon as 

 po&sible, and will not allow the number of days fur the fiHli to !«■ in 

 pickle before sending them away that is necessary according to the 

 branding n'giilations. These earl) cured fish are raaties or fat her- 

 rings, and are chiefly sent to the Hussian market. A very largn 

 quantity of the western tisli caught later in the season is, however, 

 tent to market in the fresh stiite ; they are spriiikleil with salt and 

 loosely packed in barrels, and quickly taken by special steamers tc 

 Ola.sgow and to l,iverT)Ool. These fish are given under the head 'jf 

 "bulk " in the published returns by the Fishery Board, nnd, being 

 •lightly salted, are included among the "cured fish," although not 

 witn those which have been gutted and have gone through the regular 

 preparation for exjiort. On arrival at the home markets they may 

 De readily sold as fresh herrings, after the sprinkling of salt has 

 been washed off. 



It is on the western coast that the question of a close time for her- 

 rings has been so much discussed, and unfortunately in 1860 an Act 

 (23 and 24Vict. c.92)waspassedby whichaclose time ;iseHtitblished 

 there. The bill was brought in at the instance of some of the curers 

 at Glasgow and other places, principally on the west const. By this 

 Act herring fishing was entirely jirohibited from the 1st of January 

 to the Slst of May on any part of the coast between Ardnamurchan 

 Point and the Mull of Galloway on the south, and from the 1st of 

 January to the 20th of May between Ardnamurchan and Cape Wrath 

 on the North. Not a herring was allowed to be taken during the 

 close season for the piirixise of sale, or to be used as bait, or to Keep 

 the fishermen from staivation; and it appears that this cruel pro- 

 hibition was to be enforced that the markets might not be supidiod 

 with fish which were not of the best quality, but yet were siitRciently 

 good to command an easy sale, and therefore to lower the jirici-s the 

 curers would othenvise have obtained from the regular summer 

 fishery. It was professed that the early fishing b.oke up the shoals 

 before they entered the Minch, and therefore diminished the supply 

 in June and July ; and it was said that many of the fish caught 

 between January and May were unwholesome and unfit for food. 

 But an inquiry into all the circumstances of the case clearly showed 

 that the promoters of the Act for establishing close time were the 

 curers alone, who held meetings of tlieir own body, and, without 

 coniiulting the fishermen, pressed forward a measure which sacrificed 

 •very one a interest to their own. It was one of the most unhappy 

 episodes in the history of the Scotch fisheries ; but fortunately tlie 

 enects of the close time were soon made known, and after a short 

 experience it wa.s found impossible to enforce a law which brought 

 misery and starvation to the homes of a coast population, many of 

 whom previously could only manage to obtain a bare subsistence 

 by hara and unremitting toil. The law remained practically in 

 abeyance for a time, and no prosecutions for infringing it were 

 carried on pending the result of the report of the royal commission 

 in 1862 on herring trawling. In 1864 this question of close time 

 came also before the royal commission for inquiring into the condi- 

 tion of the sea fisheries generally ; and such overwhelming evidence 

 of the evil effects of the close time was brought before the com- 

 missioners that, in anticipation of their complete report, they did 

 not hesitate to bring the subject before the Government, 'vith the 

 view to some relief being given before the qncHtion could be finally 

 disposed ofE This resulted in instructions being given not to en- 

 force the law ; and in the following session of parliament a bill 

 was passed by which close time was entirely abolished north of 

 Ardnamurchan Point. This included all the inner and outer Heb- 

 rides, where the restriction Ltd been so severely felt South of that 



part of the coast close time was continued as before, with tlio 

 exception of .biniiary, whirh Iiiimimii' tirr to llie tlihirinen. Ily 

 snbwqiH'lit li'ginlation (the Sea Kinlieriip. .\ct, I'^tlN) tliis einse time 

 has been done awiiy with beyond the three mile lliiiil, so that at 

 the i>renent time herring fiMliiiig is entirily free everyuhire iiniiiiid 

 the itritish NlamU except wiiliin three miles of that |'art of tlie 

 coast of Scotland which lies Utween Aiilnamiirelian Toiiit and the 

 Mull of (iulloway ; and the ililHi iillien of enforcing the law there 

 are so great that the rliiw* time has now only a nominal exiatenc*. 

 Another ciimiiiis.ii<>ii which ha.i lieeii recently engaged in inqnirins 

 into the stale (if tlie herring fiHheiies of tkotland has also reported 

 against the utility of iluite time. 



The fisheries of the west coant of Heotland have iinfnrtunntely given 

 rise to miii'h bit U'r feeling among those whoiiie iiiteiiKted in tlieiii, 

 either as tiNliernieii or cuieis, hihI nothing hat ciiiiHed soniiiili Horiul 

 distiirliiince us the quarrels bi tweeii the ilrilt-liHlienneii and ilio^e 

 who have been using the scan- iint, or, as it is called in Siiitlainl, the 

 " tiiiwl," for cati hiiig lierriligH. The ImalltleH in «hjili lliene dis- 

 pi.tes have Hpecially taken pliiie are h- n I'yiie and ilie KyliHol 

 llute, but more partii iilaily in the l' mier long faiiioiiH HateVM. W. 

 have already deaerlbed the geiie'ji mode ol wurking the scan, win n 

 Hiieaking of the Knglish fisiie'ies, and we will iiiily now repeat tnai 

 tills method of ftidiing ciiiiHLtH in shooting a long slieet of nelling 

 in a semicircle, both ends of whiih are nnmt roniiii' niy hauled on 

 shore until the whole net with the ineloscd fish is landed ; l>iit 

 sometimes a boat is nseil us tlie fixed iHiint at which the ends nl ihe 

 net ai-e made to meet, and into which the net is hauled as l» lore. 

 In the fonner case the net is used as a gronnd-seaii, in the latter 

 as a circle-net. Ilotli are equally objected to by the drift fisln mien, 

 \slio, until aliout the year 18U^. hsd fislied Loih Kyiie according to 

 the old established method. The trawl was then iiitrodnei d, and 

 on several oeeasions a gunboat has been required to keep iinhT be- 

 tween the liHhermeii when bolli niislei) of fisliing were being 1 urried 

 on. I.och Kyne, as we have naiil, wius the special .si ene of lliesedii- 

 piites, and one common complaint by the drift fislninien was that 

 the trawis intercepted the fish at the entrance to the loeh, and broke 

 up the shoals, so that the herrings did not find tlieir way to the n|<|ivr 

 water, where it was alleged tliiie always used to Ih' plenty of liuli at 

 the proper season. There were ooniplaints also thai lisb of all sizes 

 were can){ht by the trawl, those which were too small to be stopped 

 by the drift nets and those too liirgi to lie meslied in them^tho 

 " mother fish," as some of the fishermen called tlicni. Then it was 

 said that the trawlers hometiines made such enornious hauls that 

 only a jiortion of the catch could Iw saved, and, besides other sins 

 laid to their charge, it was finally stated as the crowning offence — 

 one that really explained the princi|ial opposition to the tiuwlers — 

 that they lowered the price of lierrings to a considerable extent by 

 the large supplies they could with little expenditure of time and 

 trouble sometimes throw into the market, and so prevented the drift- 

 men from obtaining the better prices they hail commonly got from 

 their smaller catches. 



The result of these sevMal complaints was that in 1851 an Act 

 (14 and 15 Vict. c. 26) was passed to put an end to trawling 

 for herrings on the coast of Scotland; but that not jiroving effect- 

 ive, more stringent measures wore brought to bear on the fishermen 

 in 1860 (23 and 24 Vict. c. 92) and Ksril (24 and 25 Vict. c. 72), 

 and fi.shing with tlie trawl was completely 8u]ipre8sed. So litrong a 

 feeling existed, however, among a large Ixnly of the fishermen and 

 others that the complaints against trawling were unjust, and tho 

 prohibition injurious to the interests of tho public as well as to the 

 fishermen immediately afl'ectel by it, that in 1862 a royal coinniis- 

 .sion was appointed especially to inquire into the subject; and in 1864 

 the question was indeiiendently considered by two of the members of 

 the general Sea Fisheries Conimisiiion, the third commissioner being 

 purjiosely absent from the second inquiry, as he had taken part in 

 the proceedings of the previous one. The conclusions arrived at by 

 the two commissions, after hearing a^atdeal of evidence from both 

 sets of fishermen, were decidedly ailve.'se to the opponents of trawl- 

 ing, and were to the effect that the herring fishery in Loch Fyne 

 had sulfercd no diminution by that method of working ; on 

 the contraiy, it had really been progreiisive, when the periods of 

 comparison were made sufficiently long to correct the annual lluctua- 

 tions, which were always considerable in tlds as in all other herring 

 fisheries. They say ' : — "The selected year.i of bad fishing, brought 

 as proofs that trawling was destroying the llshery, have, when ex- 

 amined, no apiilication to the question, as an equal number of years 

 of quite 08 bad fishing are found in every decennial period before ths 

 system of trawling had been discovered Trawling for her- 

 ring has been un important means of cheapening fish to the 

 consumer, by the la.^e and sudden takes, and tins thrown into the 

 market an abundant 8U,>ply of wholesome fresh fish at prices which 

 enable the poor to enjo^ them without having to come into com- 

 petition with the cuier. It is this circumstance which, in our 

 opinion, has produced the demand for repressive legislation, for the 

 gains of the urift-nct fishermen are much affected by the sudden and 



■ atftrt^^tlu Mtful ant jniuHu Cm ml- h mrt , p. «» (IM^ 



