100 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



our shores in the winter months, are during the summer, and 

 if they could be profitably fished. 



The Manx Herring Fisheries of 1914 and 1916. 



The differences in the fisheries of one year and another 

 are illustrated by the analyses of herrings made in 1914 and 

 1916. In 1914 the Manx herrings attained their maximum 

 of fat at the beginning of July (about 33 per cent.). In 1916 

 the corresponding maximum was observed at about the 

 beginning of September (about 33 per cent.), that is, two 

 months later. Doubtless the cause was a physical one, but 

 there are no indications as to what it may have been. 



The Welsh Herring Fisheries. 



The Welsh herring fishery contrasts sharply with the 

 Manx one So far neither has been studied as thoroughly as it 

 ought to have been, but some comparisons are interesting. 

 Being a winter fishery the Welsh one is less valuable, for the 

 fish are poor in fat and are therefore less nutritious. It is a 

 smaller fishery than that off the Isle of Man. The herrings 

 most probably belong to a different " race," or elementary 

 species, as the biometric investigations indicate, but owing 

 to the great difficulty of procuring samples the Welsh herrings 

 have not been nearly so thoroughly studied as the Manx ones. 



The Welsh herring shoals spawn locally, some time in 

 November or December, but the time varies on the coast 

 between New Quay Head and the North of Anglesey. At the 

 beginning of the season (in October) the W T elsh herrings are 

 immature (Stage I.), but towards the end of the season (in 

 December and January) they are mature, spawning, or spent 

 (Stages VII. and I.) It is to be noted that there is quite a 

 marked difference in sea temperature between the southern 

 extremity of Cardigan Bay, and Beaumaris and Eed Wharf 

 Bays, and this physical difference is doubtless related to 

 the difference in spawning time in different localities. 



