of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xxi 



require to be taken into consideration, and these, owing to the increases 

 in the price of oil in recent years, are substantially greater than in the 

 earlier years of the movement. Paraffin, of which most is used, now 

 costs 7Jd. or 8d. per gallon, as against 4Jd. or 5d. a few years ago. Crude 

 oil costs about 4-|d. per gallon, but as indicated above very few of the 

 engines installed use such oil. 



As to the actual cost of working, the Montrose officer reports that 

 the cost of oil for the skiffs in that district varies from £1 7s. to £1 lis. 

 for a full week's working ; in Stonehaven district the cost for a 15-20 

 horse-power engine was £1 10s. per week ; and the Shetland officer is 

 informed that for 7-10 horse-power engines the cost is about £3 per 

 month, and for 15-16 horse power engines about £4 5s. per month. 



To the running expenses an allowance for depreciation falls, of 

 course, to be added, but having regard to the information as to earnings 

 which are given above it appears that, as a general rule, motor boats of 

 a moderate size are remunerative investments. 



Conclusion. 



As regards the largest class of fishing vessels the position remains 

 the same as when the Report for 1912 was written ; motor-power is, 

 in the opinion of Scottish fishermen, inferior to steam for such boats, 

 and there is little prospect of much extension in the near future of the 

 adoption of motor power for this class. 



In the intermediate classes — boats of from 18 to 45 feet keel — the 

 position is different however. i\.ll reports indicate that fishermen 

 are alive to the benefits to be derived from the installation of motor 

 engines in such boats, and it seems probable that a further increase 

 will fall to be recorded at the end of the present year. 



FISH LANDED. 



I. Total Catch. 



As stated in the introduction to this Report, the total quantity 

 of fish landed in Scotland in 1913 (exclusive of shell-fish) was 7,828,350 

 cwts., valued at £3,925,360, a decrease in quantity of 758,756 cwts., 

 but an increase in value of £336,776, as compared with the total for 

 1912, which in its turn was £528,000 in advance of 1911. Of the 

 decrease in quantity 95 per cent, was referable to pelagic fish, but the 

 increase in value was almost equally divided between pelagic and 

 demersal fish. Towards the gross catch herrings and other pelagic 

 fish contributed 58 per cent., trawled fish 32 per cent., and demersal 

 fish taken by line and net 10 per cent., as compared with 61, 28, and 

 11 per cent, respectively in 1912, while as regards value the corre- 

 sponding percentages were 54, 36, and 10, as against 54, 34, and 12 in 

 the preceding year. The average price per cwt. realised was 10s. 

 as compared with 8s. 4d. in 1912, and 7s. 2d. in 1911. The shell-fish 

 landed realised £72,357, or £4763 more than in 1912, so that the gross 

 total value of all kinds of fish was only £2283 short of four million 

 pounds — by far the highest total ever recorded, being over 9 per cent. 



