IV 



c< off in size. They have not time to come to maturity. Thinks 

 " the fishing gets worse every year. The proof of this is that 

 <( the fishermen have to leave the Harris coast for the Lews, 

 u Skye, and North and South Uist." William Macqueed, agent 

 at Tarbert for Mr. Maclachlan : — " One dozen lobsters 20 years 

 " ago would weigh as heavy as two or three dozen now." Eoderick 

 McKay, a lobster fisherman of Tarbert of 40 years' experience : 

 — " There are not so many lobsters in any place as there were 

 " 40 years ago. . . . The lobsters are also smaller." Mr. 

 Maclean, general merchant, Tobermory : — " The lobsters have de- 

 " creased in average size. The two-for-one lobsters form nearly 

 " half the whole take now." David Campbell, fish merchant, 

 Salen, " has been acquainted with the lobster fisheries of Mull 

 u and the immediately adjacent lochs and islands for more than 

 " 30 years, since 1844. Lobsters have diminished both in number 

 " and size since he began business." William Sproat, Procurator 

 u Fiscal, Tobermory, " has been 30 years resident in Tobermory, 

 " during which time he has paid considerable attention to the 

 " lobster fisheries around Mull and the neighbouring islands. 

 (i Lobsters are not nearly as plentiful as formerly, and on an 

 " average not above half the size. Places that were productive 

 fishing grounds when he first came to Mull are now almost 

 exhausted." Captain Swinburne, R.N., ' f is proprietor of 

 Eilean Shona and of the island of Muck, in the county of 

 " Inverness. Has paid much attention to the subject of the 

 " lobster fisheries and prosecuted them for three years (from 

 " 1856 to 1859) in the neighbourhood of Eilean Shona. and 

 " Ardnamurchan. Thinks that lobsters have fallen off both 

 " in number and size." Mr. Hugh Maclachlan, fish merchant, 

 Glasgow, one of the chief fish salesmen in Scotland, who has 

 been 30 years engaged in the lobster trade, says : — " Lobsters 

 " have decreased greatly in size as well as in number. If there 

 " were as many lobsters in the sea as there used to be, the 

 (i increased number of boats and creels should catch four times 

 " as many as they do." 

 Contrary It is then clear that a very large majority of the witnesses, 



evidence. with special means of arriving at a just conclusion on the 



subject, are satisfied that the crab and lobster fisheries of 

 Scotland are in a state of gradual decay. In a few cases, 

 indeed, we have heard a different story. At Muchalls, for 

 instance, a fishing village on the coast of Aberdeenshire, the 

 fishermen considered that crabs were not scarce. We were told 

 by Donald Mowat, a fisherman with 35 years' experience, that 

 " There are plenty of crabs in the neighbourhood " of Duncansby 

 Head, in the extreme north of Scotland. " There is no differ- 

 " ence in their size or number as compared with former years." 

 Alexander Greg, manager at Arbroath for Joseph Johnson and 

 Sons, thought that "crabs and lobsters are just as plentiful 

 " as they were seven years ago ; lobsters, if anything, more 

 " plentiful." George Wood, a fisherman of Johns Haven assured 



