218 



Appendices to Thirty-second Annual Report 



The quantity landed by foreign trawlers and Faroe smacks also shows a 

 falling off, to the extent of 4608 cwts. in the quantity and £807 in the value. 



Prices for trawled fresh gutted cod averaged about £8 per ton, the same 

 as in 1912, w^hile Faroe wet salted cod realised from £18 to £19 per ton, 

 the bulk of the landings being sold at the latter figure. These prices show 

 an advance of about £3 per ton over those of the previous year. 



Line fishing by local fishermen was carried on in the usual desultory 

 fashion. The results for the year were about the average and show little 

 variation fi'om those of the preceding year. 



Lobster fishing was prosecuted from almost every creek in the district, 

 principally during April, May, June, September, and October. This 

 fishing, which has been dechning for some years back, showed an improve- 

 ment during the year under review. 



With the exception of the drowning of a fisherman belonging to St. 

 Margaret's Hope, who fell overboard, there were, fortunately, no fatal 

 accidents during the year, and the loss to boats and fishing gear was small. 



A. J. MUNRO, 



Fishery Officer. 



Fishery OrricE, 

 Kirkwall, 5th January 1914. 



Shetland District. 



The returns of fish landed in Shetland district during 1913 show 

 decreases of 695,840 cwts. and £196,425 as compared with the figures 

 for 1912. The failure of the herring fishing during the late summer and 

 autunm was the principal cause of this decrease ; but there w^as also a 

 great falling of? in the landings of haddocks. Notwithstanding, local 

 fishermen had a most prosperous season, owing to the fact that when 

 the herring fishing revived in August, they were left to reap the harvest 

 practically alone. 



In the means of capture returns a decrease in the number of fu'st-class 

 sail boats has again to be recorded. A few second-hand boats were pur- 

 chased from other districts, but not nearly sufficient to make up for the 

 number written of? as no longer employed in fishing. In second-class 

 boats there was little change. Two motor skiffs were added to the fleet, 

 but 2 were withdrawn from the fishery register to be used for other 

 purposes. There was a considerable decrease in the number of third-class 

 boats. One steam drifter was added to the local fleet, and there is a 

 prospect of several more being brought to the district before next season. 



The winter herring fishing was commenced by a few drifters towards 

 the end of January, but very little success was met with till the second 

 week of February. During the last three weeks of February and the first 

 fortnight of March, however, a dense shoal of herrings lay off Baltasound. 

 Favourable weather permitted fishermen to get fairly regularly to sea, and 

 heavy catches were secured, shots of 100 crans and upwards being fre- 

 quently landed. The best catch for the season — 208 crans — was landed at 

 Lerwick on 25th February. About a score of steam drifters were em- 

 ployed, some of them, however, for only part of the season, as against 

 a dozen in 1912 ; the total catch to the end of March was 6940 crans 

 against 3190; and prices ranged from 13s. to 31s. 6d., or an average of 

 17s. 9d. against 14s. in 1912. One crew's earnings for 6 weeks amounted 

 to £800, and most of those that worked the whole season had from £300 

 up to £700, Over 5600 barrels were cured for exportation, and the balance 



