THE FISHING INDUSTRY 87 
fishing grounds of the northern North Sea and adjacent waters, and there 
are excellent facilities for the disposal and distribution of the catches. 
It is outwith the scope of this article to discuss the causes of the central- 
isation of trawling at Aberdeen, but undoubtedly the foresight, ability 
and enterprise of the early local pioneers played a significant part, as well 
as the improved methods for fishing in deeper water and on rougher 
ground which followed the application of steam power to fishing vessels. 
Notwithstanding the number of vessels fishing in the North Sea, 
supplies from this area gradually became inadequate to meet the demand, 
and by degrees the operations of trawlers and liners radiated outwards from 
the northern gateways of the North Sea to the Butt of Lewis, to the west 
coast of Scotland, to Faroe, Iceland and Greenland, to Bear Island, the 
Barents Sea and the north-western coast of Norway. Foreign vessels 
working these distant grounds landed large quantities at Aberdeen in the 
years prior to the war. During the war these operations naturally ceased, 
but activities were renewed not long after the suspension of hostilities, 
and in 1925 foreign landings at Aberdeen amounted to more than one 
million cwts., valued at over half a million pounds sterling. Since that 
year the foreign landings have greatly declined, and in 1932 they fell below 
the figure for 1913. ‘The bulk of the landings are made by German 
trawlers and are effected mainly in the spring months when cod are 
specially plentiful in Icelandic waters. ‘The German vessels call irregu- 
larly at other times of the year, but these visits are now largely for the 
purpose of landing livers and liver oils extracted on board, for which 
better prices are apparently obtainable than at their home ports. 
A new development in the prosecution of Scottish fisheries took place 
in 1921 with the introduction of the Danish seine net. This method, 
adopted by small inshore motor boats as well as by steam and motor 
drifters between herring fishing seasons, can only be used on smooth 
ground, but has nevertheless proved so successful as to become an estab- 
lished feature of our national fisheries. 
Mention must also be made of the considerable fishery for salmon 
prosecuted by means of bag and fly nets along the coast, by sweep nets in 
river tidal waters and by rod and line. For many years the rental value 
of the Dee fishings has been the highest of any river in Scotland, and in 
1932 amounted to £30,797. ‘The fishings on the coast adjacent to Aber- 
deen and at the mouth of the harbour and the sweep net fishings for a 
short distance up the river are owned by the Harbour Commissioners, and 
in the same year a total of 19,940 salmon weighing nearly 1,290 cwts. and 
valued at £14,038 was sold at the fish market during the netting season 
which lasts from February to August. 
There can be no doubt that the Aberdeen of to-day owes much to the 
City and Port authorities who in the early years were quick to realise 
the potentialities of the port as a great fishery centre. Many years before 
the introduction of steam trawling, improvement of the harbour had 
been in progress. The North Pier had been constructed and the various 
quays forming tidal and non-tidal basins had been built or planned. 
The river Dee had been diverted and its channel widened and deepened, 
thus enabling a large tract of land to be reclaimed and occupied later by 
