24 



LOBSTERS. 



Decrease. 



Gauge. 



Soft. 



Close time. 

 CEABS. 



any breach of the law, the fishermen should be brought before a Justice of the 

 Peace. 



Andrew Duthie, fisherman, Duke Street, Fraserburgh. Is 39 years of 

 age. Lobsters are decreasing, because fishing is excessive. Creels have 

 increased sixfold in the last two years. Would recommend that all lobsters 

 under 8 inches should be put back into the water. Lobsters turn soft about 

 July and August, and when they have spawn they should be returned ; this 

 would greatly increase them. Fishes most in shallow water with rings, and 

 with creels in deeper water. There should be a close time for lobsters in July, 

 August, and September. Crab fishing has not been developed here till the 

 last few years. Great quantities are landed. Would return all crabs under 

 4 inches. Creels should not be used for crabs during July, August, and 

 September. Considerable numbers are wasted by children gathering them 

 from under the rocks when immature. 



Trade in. 



Baihvays. 



Station Hotel, Inverness, Wednesday, 11th October 1876. 



Present : 



Spencer Walpole and Archibald Young, Esquires. 



William Campbell, 72, Castle Street, Inverness {examined by Mr. 

 Walpole), Was for some time, beginning in 1869, traffic manager for the Great 

 Northern and North Eastern Railways at Inverness. His district extended 

 over all the Northern portions of Scotland from Perth to the Shetland Isles, 

 Portree, Stornoway, and the outer Hebrides. Has known these districts 

 for 40 years. In the above capacity his attention was drawn to the fish 

 traffic, commencing with the Inverness white fish traffic (sprats) ; the 

 trade was at first very small, and gradually developed till 800 to 1,000 

 barrels a day were sent to London. In 1869 he began to consign shell fish 

 to London. These crabs and lobsters came from the West coast of Suther- 

 land, 60 miles by land from Loch Inver and other places to Lairg, and 

 thence per railway. They had not equal facilities for sending the fish from 

 the other places. The quantity of crabs and lobsters is unlimited, but the 

 expense of the land journey from Loch Inver to Lairg is a great barrier to the 

 development of that traffic. His attention was directed to Loch Inver because 

 there was a great demand for lobsters in London, and the Sutherland Rail- 

 way did not go beyond Golspie. When the railway was extended to Helmsdale, 

 the lobsters came from Wick and the West coast of Caithness-shire. The 

 Dingwall and Skye line was opened in 1870, and had the effect of opening 

 up a traffic from Stornoway and Portree. The lobsters from these places 

 had previously gone to Glasgow by steamer. The Post Office are now 

 establishing a new route to Harris and the Outer Isles, via Strome, which 

 will have "the effect of sending an unprecedented supply of lobsters to the 

 London market. The fisherman in Benbecula alone are prepared to 

 supply the London market with 500 dozen lobsters a week from the Atlantic 

 coast. He contracted to do so with Forbes, Stuart, & Co., but the lobsters 

 did not live to reach Greenock. The lobsters went from Oban. There 

 are at Greenock and Oban 40 or 50 men" doing nothing but receiving lobsters 

 from the Outer Hebrides. They take them out of the heavy boxes they arrive 

 in, and repack them in light boxes for the railways. Believes that the fisheries 

 in these places on the outer or Atlantic side are inexhaustible, and that, 

 when facilities for the transit of the crabs and lobsters caught there are 

 created, the great fishery will be not on the Minch, but on the Atlantic 

 side of these islands. The only good harbours in these islands, at present, are 

 on the Minch side. Is acquainted with Loch Erribol. That loch is not fished 

 out ; but given up owing to the length of the land carriage. The remoteness 

 of the situation of that loch is alone interfering with the fishery. There are 

 40,000 people in the Long Island dependent on fishing, and they are worse 

 off for communication than the Pacific Islanders. The Post Office are now 

 affording increased communication, which will open up these fisheries. The 



