48 



LOBSTERS. 



Decreased size. 



Boats. 

 Close time. 



Gauge. 



Creels. 



Kept in ponds. 



Price. 



Prohibition of 

 ponds. 





No decrease. 



Seasonfor. 



Royal Hotel, Stornoway, Monday, 23rd October 1876. 



Present : 



Spencer Walpole and Archibald Young, Esquires. 



Kenneth Smith (examimed by Mr. Young). Is a fish merchant in 

 Stornoway. Has had 24 years' experience in the lobster trade. Speaks of the 

 Lews only as regards lobsters. Obtains as many lobsters as formerly ; but 

 they are not so large, with the exception of those in Broad Bay, where they are 

 not fished in the summer months. The Atlantic coast is more exposed 

 than the east coast, but there are sheltered bays in it. The lobsters are more 

 plentiful on the Atlantic than on the east coast. They have a wider range. The 

 fishermen do not fish in May, June, July, and August on the Minch or eastern 

 side of the Lews. They fish on the Atlantic side. Has heard of the Act of 

 Parliament imposing a close season ; but it has never been observed. There are 

 more boats fishing than there were, and each boat has more creels. The boats 

 ought, therefore, to get more than they used to do ; and as they do not, 

 lobsters cannot be so plentiful as they were. Is in favour of a close season 

 in May, June, July, and August, which must be enforced in the markets. 

 Is in favour of a gauge, 4| inches in the barrel. Anything under this should 

 be returned to the sea. The fishermen fished with rings and creels when he 

 had first experience of the fishery, and they fish with both rings and creels 

 now. The creels fish in deeper water. There is a practice here of keeping 

 lobsters in ponds till they are wanted for the market. Does not approve of 

 this practice. The lobsters in these ponds are inferior to those obtained in the 

 sea. They don't get sufficient nourishment. Tried a pond himself for one 

 year, fully three quarters of a mile long by half a mile broad. It was an arm 

 of the sea. Had 7,000 lobsters in the pond. The London agents complained 

 of the quality of the lobsters from this pond and from other ponds in the 

 neighbourhood. The lobsters in such a pond would eat each other and each 

 other's spawn. Got 1,500 fewer lobsters out of the pond than he put into it. 

 In consequence he gave up the pond after one year's trial. Has shipped, on 

 an average, 8,000 , lobsters a year from Stornoway. Believes that lobsters 

 spawn all the year round, but especially in the summer months, when they 

 cast their shells, and are in a weak state. Thinks the pond system so preju- 

 dicial that it should be prohibited. The lobsters, after being a month or two 

 in the pond, are unfit for human food. London is the chief market, but a few 

 boxes are sent to Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham. The price of 

 lobsters, during his experience, has risen from 6s. a dozen to from 7s. to 20s., 

 according to the season of the year. 



(By Mr. Walpole.) Proposes legislation to make it illegal to keep lobsters in 

 a pond. The lobsters may be kept for a week or for a fortnight without injury. 

 If there was a close season for four months this legislation would not be so 

 necessary. He would do away with the ponds, however, because they are injurious. 

 Thinks that, if the practice of keeping lobsters in ponds is proved injurious, 

 Parliament is entitled to put a stop to it. Proposes that a clause should be 

 inserted in an Act of Parliament making it illegal to have any pond in which 

 lobsters could be kept. 



Archibald Munro (examined by Mr. Walpole). Manager at Stornoway for 

 Mr. Maclachlan of Glasgow, who is extensively engaged in the lobster trade. 

 Has been five years in Mr. Maclachlan's employment, and is a native of 

 Stornoway. Engages boats to fish for them and purchases lobsters from other 

 fisherman fishing on their own account. There are sometimes three or four 

 boats engaged, and from 15 to 20 boats from which he buys. Some of these 

 boats fish on the west side of the Lews near the Butt, and others in Broad Bay, 

 north of the peninsula, near which Stornoway stands. Thinks that there is 

 no decrease in the number of lobsters in either place, and the lobsters are as 

 large as they used to be. Has no falling off to complain of. For the last four 

 years has on an average sent off 700 dozen a year from Stornoway. They are 

 sent by the "Clansman" and "Clydesdale" to Glasgow, and thence by railway 

 to London. The fishing season commences about 1st September. Com- 

 mences buying soon after that date. There are very few lobsters taken here 

 after February. The fisherman do not prosecute the fishery after that time 

 The weather is broken up after this time, and the lobsters are less plentiful 





