INVESTIGATIONS IN FORTH, 1895. 



163 



ground for any other view than that of confidence in the supply 

 of the haddock. Years occur in which the captures are very 

 small, as in 1889 and in 1891, but they either gradually or 

 suddenly rise to their former standard or exceed it, as has 

 happened in every department of the fisheries of the open sea 

 probably from time immemorial. The maximum numbers, 

 irrespective of hauls, are found in August, which is boldly 

 marked by 11,190 in the decade, followed by 6,959 in Sep- 

 tember, and about equally supported by October and July, the 

 former with 6,194 and the latter with 6,175. 



Warmer months 





Colder months 







May— Oct. 



Jan. 



— Apr., Nov. 



&Dec. 







1st period 









Total 



Difference 



No. of Hauls 159 





110 





269 



50+ in 

 favour of 

 warm mths. 



2nd period 













No. of Hauls 214 





219 





433 



+ 5 in 

 favour of 

 colder mths 



The haddock in 1883-84 and in 1895-96 has been specially 

 singled out for a demonstration of the progressive ruin of the 

 Scottish fisheries. The period of 1883 and 1884 is contrasted 

 with 1895 and 1896, and it is stated that in the latter period 

 there is a decrease of £42,537. 10s. No heed is given to the 

 view that either period might have been exceptional, as has 

 so often happened, for instance, in the herring- as well as the 

 haddock-fishing. The figures, however, may be examined in 

 passing. A preliminary statement is made that in 1883-84 

 " there were only a few trawlers on the coast, whose statistics 

 were not kept separate," but this is scarcely accurate, for the 

 powerful new ships of the General Steam Fishing Company of 

 Granton, others from the same port and from Leith, those from 

 Dundee and Aberdeen, besides the English vessels working in 

 Scottish waters, were actively engaged in that period, not 

 to speak of sailing trawlers. Indeed in the Trawling Report 

 of 1884, the author estimated the captures by trawlers in 

 Scottish waters as at least 9,000 tons or 180,000 cwts., an 

 amount which would effectually extinguish most of the imaginary 



11—2 



