of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xxiii 



ship between the quantity landed and the price — an increase in 

 quantity being accompanied by a fall in price, and vice versa. 



In the next two years, however, the price rose concurrently with 

 the supply, and although since 1908 a fairly regular fall is seen in the 

 catch, the price did not respond to this movement until 1910, since 

 when it has risen sharply to its culminating point in 1913. 



The average prices obtained by steam, motor, and sailing vessels 

 over the whole year were respectively 9s. 4d., 8s. lOd., and 9s. 8d. 

 per cwt. At first glance these figures are at variance with the usual 

 order of things — that steamers as a whole obtain better prices than 

 sailing boats — but a closer examination of the tables reveals the fact 

 that this is due to the disturbing influence of the heavy winter catch, 

 the great bulk of which was landed by steamers, and for which little 

 more than half the price paid for summer fish was received. If the 

 comparison be confined to the summer fishings, steamers again take 

 first place, the averages being respectively 10s. 3d., 9s., and 9s. lOd. 

 per cwt. The relatively low price obtained by motor boats is explained 

 by the fact that the bulk of their catch was taken in the Clyde, and was 

 therefore outwith the influences which forced up prices on the East 

 Coast. 



The incidence of fishing operations during the year under review 

 showed a marked divergence from that of the two preceding years. 

 The winter fishing, from the low ebb to which it had fallen in the 

 preceding year, jumped suddenly to the opposite extreme, and yielded 

 the highest total in its history. The summer fishing, which in 1912 

 and 1911 gave excellent results during June and July, and fell away 

 in August, gave precisely opposite results in 1913, while the financial 

 success of the early fishing in 1912 had been such that no close time 

 was observed or even mooted during the year under review. 



Of the total landings, the East Coast contributed 53 per cent., 

 Orkney and Shetland 23 per cent., and the West Coast 24 per cent., 

 as compared with 49, 37, and 14 per cent, in 1912, the displacement 

 thus portrayed clearly illustrating the efiect of the changed conditions 

 outlined above, while in respect of value the corresponding percentages 

 were 55, 25, and 20, as against 47, 39, and 14 in the preceding year. 

 An examination of the district returns shows that Peterhead, with a 

 catch of 774,892 cwts., has ousted Shetland from the place which it has 

 so long occupied as the leading herring fishing station. This district, 

 however, retained the second place, followed by Fraserburgh, Storno- 

 way, Wick, and Orkney, in the order named, Stornoway having risen 

 from the sixth to the fourth place, and these districts collectively 

 accounted for 77 per cent, of the entire catch. 



As contributors to the herring catch sail boats fell further behind 

 during the year as compared with power-driven vessels, and this 

 notwithstanding that when the fishing revived during August, the 

 conditions, both as regards the weather and the proximity of the 

 shoals to the land, were in every respect suited to them, so that they 

 were enabled to compete on level terms with the steam and motor 

 drifters at a time when the best catches were being landed. The 

 changed conditions in the herring fishing industry are well brought 

 out by a comparison of the proportions of the catches landed by each 

 type of vessel in 1906 and 1913 respectively. In the earlier year 

 (chosen as being the first in which separate records were kept) sailing 



