AND DECENNIAL SUMMARY. 177 



(with the exception of August) besides those mentioned, as 

 shown in the accompanying table. February seemed to be the 

 month in which the maximum number was obtained. 



In considering general fishery questions the history of the 

 herring offers interesting reflections. In our youth the herrings 

 were caught as a rule from 12 to 16 miles from shore, and 

 vast multitudes in August at the Old Hake, a region off the 

 Fife coast between Barbet Ness and the Carr Rock, a distance 

 of about 3^ miles \ Shooting their nets close inshore over 

 rocks and shingle, it used to be a common saying amongst the 

 men "no herring no nets," since the plentiful captures of 

 herrings buoyed their nets from the sharp rocks, and vice versa 

 the empty nets were ruptured by contact with the rocks. Since 

 that date the herrings have deserted the Old Hake, so that 

 for many years no fishing of note occurred there, and even now 

 it is only occasionally that they return. Viewing the question 

 broadly, it is generally admitted that the boats require to go 

 further out to sea for the capture of herrings than in the olden 

 time. Yet few would assert that this is a proof of the de- 

 cadence of the herring-fishery and the diminution of the species. 

 Applying the same argument to the haddock, it is remarkable 

 how promptly the same sequence is brought forward as a proof 

 of its approaching extinction at the hands of the ubiquitous 

 trawlers. The mere fact that fishing has now, even if it were 

 always the case, to be carried on at a greater distance from 

 shore than in the days of our forefathers does not indicate the 

 ruin of a fishery, especially when other features are considered. 

 Again, the annual consumption of whitebait has no appreciable 

 effect on the abundance of the herring. 



On board the large sea-going trawlers this fish is a rarity, only 

 14 having been procured in January and February and 1 in August 

 during the Trawling Expeditions of 1884, chiefly in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Forth. Such captures are in a sense accidental 

 since the fish as a rule can readily escape through the meshes. 



1 It is noteworthy how few herrings and sprats occur in the trawl, and such 

 are no test of their abundance in the area, e.g. St Andrews Bay. Nets may even 

 be shot from the rocks and capture many, while they are altogether absent from 

 the trawl. 



M. R. 12 



