20 



FISHERIES 



p 



l*'ii 



Garxne or Sprat Fishing. — This is carried on to some 

 fxteut at tlie upper end of tlie Firth of Forth, and in the 

 lieauly Firth. In t!ie former locality the garvies are 

 caught by means of trawls (seans), and the principal fishing 

 is on the western side of Inchgarvie. In the Beauly 

 Firth drift-nets are used, and only fish of fair size are taken. 

 Complaints have long been made in both places of the 

 capture of young herrings with the garvios, and the herring 

 fishers have done their best to get the garvie fishery put a 

 Bto|) to ; but fortunately they have not succeeded, for this 

 fishery gives profitable employment to a good many fisher- 

 men, and there is nut a particle of proof that the herring 

 fishing faither out has suffered from the occasional capture 

 of young herrings with the garvics. Sprats are not in 

 much demand in the )Scotch markets, and almost all that 

 are taken in the localities mentioned are sent by rail to 

 London. We are sorry to say that the old I'allary of the 

 sprat being nothing but a young herring still prevails among 

 some of tlio fishermen and curers. 



Line Fisheries. — The capture of cod, haddock, ling, and 

 saitlic or coalfish is general around the coast of Scotland ; 

 and the tusk or tor.ik, a northern s[iecies of the cod family, 

 and in sliape like a short-bodied ling, is taken in some 

 numbers at the .Shetland'*, and a fev? at the outer Hebrides. 

 Long lines are in use fnr haddock, ling, and tusk, and also 

 for cod on many parts of the coast ; but at the Shetlands 

 Land lines are eniiiloyed for cod and saitho, and also at 

 Faroe and Iceland. At Newhaven, Eyemouth, and other 

 jjlaces in the ueiglibourhood in the Firth of Forth, two sizes 

 of long line are regularly worked in the proper season. 

 The smaller or haddock lines have from 800 to 1000 hooks 

 each, or even more, on snoods 14 inches long and 2i feet 

 apart, and mussels and lug norms are used as bait. Some 

 little interest is attacl'ed to the state of this fishery, as it is 

 an important one in Scotland, and a few years ago it was 

 eaid to have fallen off very much. ]>ut it appears there 

 are still plenty of haddocks on the coast, and now that 

 larger an I decked boats are used, and the fishermen are 

 consetpieutly more independent of weather, very large takes 

 are not uncommon. In one week in January 1876 the 

 Eyemouth boats were at sea six times, and landed 20,000 

 Btones of haddocks, which sold at 23. per stone, producing 

 in that short period no less than £2000. The season lasts 

 here from October to April, and the average gain for the 

 season by each boat usually ranges from £400 to £C00. 

 There is a considerable trade in smoked haddock.s, particu- 

 larly from Eyemouth, and the curing consists in soaking 

 the fish in pickle for half an hour, and then hanging them 

 for about four hours in some hardwood smoke. The village 

 of Findon, between Stonehaven and Aberdeen, has long 

 been famous for first preparing the fish known as " Finnan 

 hPiddips." Their ])ec'!]iar flavour, whi^-h ]r.\'> s!<;ule' tbain -:l. 

 popular, arises from their being hung in j)eat smoke. They 

 are cured in the cottages, und some little variation in the 

 time in pickle and in smoke is made according to the 

 time they are intended to keep. This manufacture is now 

 c^irried on at many places besides Findon. The cod or 

 "great lines " are of the same description as those used for 

 haddock fishing, but have longer snoods, and the hooks 

 farther apart. It is unnecessary to speak of the manner 

 in which these long-lines are worked, as we have fully 

 described it in our notice of the North Sea cod fi.shery. A 

 vast quantity of lino fish is sent to the fresh market, but 

 the great iniportanje of this Scotch fishery is due to the 

 large extent to which curing operations are carried on, and 

 more especially in the distant districts such as the Shet- 

 land! and the outer Hebrides. 



Curing is rcrformiMl in two ways — <lvy rind in pinWe. The latter 

 ■nK'tlioil coiic'sts i;i ]■ ickin.; tin- (isli, after tlii'V hnvc licpn split open, 

 gntteU, uud \mit of the bavkboUM and the head reiWQved, with lajrerii 



of salt in barrels ; hnt when to he eurcd dried, these fish, perlinp .<« 

 eanglit as far oil' as tlie Faroe Islands or Jceland, and liMdeil iit llic 

 Shitlaiids, are iinjiacked, washed, and spread out eitlier on states 

 or on the beach, and exposed for sonjc days to tlie air and snn, diia 

 attention beiii}; given to them to ensure their being evenly diidl. 

 Wlien thonniylily cured, they are kept in a cool dry place, until 

 wanted for sliiiunent. Tiie lish caught near the coast arc suited us 

 soon as lauded, and afterwards treated as the others. The produce 

 of the Shetland tisliery is largo in itself; but the return of iish 

 cured in those islauus i.s greatly increased by the supplies of fish in 

 jiicklo lauded there for curing by the Grimsby and Shetland smacks, 

 which go every year to Faroe, Iceland, and otlier more or less dis- 

 tant tisiiing grounds. 



A great deal of the cod and some of the ling go to the Spanish 

 inai'kets, and a little to Australia ; but the ling and tusk arc chiefly 

 sent to Dublin, Glasgow, and Leith, and the saithe to Belfast, Leith, 

 and Dundee. 



Adstuact showing the Total Quantity of Cod, Ling, Hake, Saithe, 

 and Tusk, cured and exported, year by year, in so far as brouciht 

 nmli'r cognizance of Fislurij Officers, from the lOtli of October 

 IS'iO, when the system for encouragement and iui]irovenient of 

 the t'od and l.ing Fishery commenced, to the 31st of December 

 1 877. The periods for wliiih each Iteturn is made end on the 5th 

 (>r April ^-.vii to 1844; from that year to 1352 on the 5th 

 of .liiiiiiary, and afterwards on the i^lst of December. Two 

 Hetiun.s, therefore, appear for 1852 in the tables. The collection 

 of lii'lurus fur England ci'ascd from the 5th of January 1850, 

 when also the riiniliiiig and Uranding of Cod and Ling came to 

 an end ; and there were no Ui.larns for the Isle of Man after 

 .lauimry ISO!*. 



X.II.—'Ww tiiH.li.Mif 111- I■■i^l (T.v liiiirdilii iii'i slM w tlie tiitnl qu«i tliy of end, 

 line, tto., rfd-ei/ till ilif yt-ar ((iiiiiiiriHiiii: 5ili .Vi-iii 1S25, 'I'lie bounty fri-m the 

 e,iiiiest (late in this iilistriKl tn llic 5ih of .-Xpi ii l.-^.Sll, \va.H four sl.ii-irps per cwt, 

 f"r ti^ll ( iiii'd drifii, and t«o sliillili;;,s And !.i\pi'nri* pi-r harri'l foi fi.^il cured in 

 }i I kit', taken liy tiie fii-ws of vessels or ImaTs vot on ilm toniia^t' houiity; Mlule 



I tile liouiity for vus^ils licensed lor tjie eoii and llii^ tlhliciy, on (lit toimaf;e 

 lionnty, was ttfty sliilliiiirs j^t-r Ion, for toniiii^o uiM emtro, to ilic 6ih of July 



I li'-'ii. ilh,ii::i:duiiK il c shillio);9 annually to tlic 61I1 of April 1830, when th« 

 huunttes ultOKcther ceased. 



In 1877' the number of fishing boats in Scotland was 

 14,623, and of fishermen and boys iJijSOO, and the 

 estimated value of the boat.s, nets, and lines employed ia 

 ttio herring and cod and ling fisheries was £1,178,412, 

 being an increase over the numbers for 187C of 76 boats 

 and 627 fishermon and boys, and also an inciciuse of 

 £r)0,418 in the e.stimated value of boats, nets, and liiu's. 



Irish Fisheries. — After a continuous deiires^iun of 30 

 years, during which the number of boats and fi.shermen was 

 reduced to less than a third, the Insh sea fisheries bIihwc I 

 some indications of iin imjirovement in 187t), the lastyciu-^ 

 for which the inspectors have published their annual report. 



• Report of Fishery Hoard, Scotland, fnr 1877. 



• Since the aliove w.is in 'ype the Inspeetors' Report for ]!'77 has 

 been publishivl. They state vl:nt there has been an apparent iberet'o 

 of no less than 58:! li-liiiig boats and 3.300 fisliennen and tuns sima 

 1870 ; but, as in pre\:ciiis years, tiny do not aj'pear t" li:i^'' c 'h li 

 contide&c« in tba ftccuracy of the ntum*. Tba li«niug fiahviiw ww* 



