236 



Appendices to Thirty-second Annual Report 



and were not engaged in fisliing, they are not included in the returns for 

 this year. 



Fully three-fourths of the total quantity and value of fish landed was 

 accounted for by the landings of herrings. There was not a single month 

 in the year in which certain quantities were not landed in some part of the 

 district. 



The chief fishing season, however, was during the months of September 

 and October, when a shoal of herrings was located in the waters between 

 Ardrossan and Portincross. During that period the total recorded in the 

 returns for this district amounted to 5394 crans, valued at £5729. Although 

 not of such a large size as those caught in certain other parts of the Clyde, 

 the herrings were of fairly good quality and met with a ready sale. The 

 total catch for the year was 6980 crans, valued at £8213, as against 5167 

 crans and £7661 in 1912. 



Fully 2000 cwts. of mackerel, valued at £334, were accounted for in the 

 district returns. These were mostly taken in the herring nets and dis- 

 posed of in Glasgow and the Enghsh markets. Generally speaking the 

 fish were not so large as could have been desired, and it was sometimes 

 difficult to get them disposed of at prices sufficiently remunerative to the 

 fishermen. 



As already stated, the results of the hne fishing were not so satisfactory 

 as those of the preceding year. The decrease, however, was not attri- 

 butable to less success on the part of the local fishermen, but rather to the 

 dechne in the landings by steam fishing vessels. There was practically 

 no change in the quantity and value of fish caught in local waters, while 

 the landings by steam hners fell off to the extent of 1437 cwts. and £1027. 

 There were only 7 arrivals of steam liners in 1913, as against 14 in 1912. 



For the time being at least, trawler owners do not seem to favour 

 Glasgow as a port of landing for their vessels. In 1912, there were 8 

 arrivals of trawlers, but not a single vessel of this description visited the 

 district in 1913. 



The total value of shell- fish was £328 less than in the previous year. 

 This was almost entirely due to the decrease in the output of mussels, the 

 demand for which appeared to have fallen off. 



Herring curing was chiefly carried on during the latter half of the year, 

 and the demand in the American markets, for the larger sized herrings 

 especially, was well maintained throughout the season. Kippering was 

 also carried on during the greater part of the year, and, when local supplies 

 were unobtainable, herrings from other parts of Scotland, and from the 

 English, Irish, and Norwegian coasts were utihsed for this purpose. 



As will be observed from the returns, the exportation of Scottish cured 

 herrings from this district was greater than in the preceding year. These 

 came from the East and West Coasts and Orkney and Shetland, and were 

 shipped chiefly to America and Canada. There was also an increase in the 

 shipments of Irish cured herrings from Glasgow. 



The quantity of dried cod, etc., exported via Glasgow to Ireland, Spain, 

 and America was slightly less than in the previous year, and the same was 

 also the case in regard to preserved fish sent to America and AustraUa. 



Although not quite up to the preceding year, in so far as the number 

 of packages was concerned, a large volume of business was done in nearly 

 all kinds of fish in Glasgow market. While the market depended mainly 

 on supplies from Aberdeen and Granton, substantial consignments were 

 regularly received from various other parts of the British Isles. 



For the first time for some years no steam fishing vessels were built in 

 the district, the building yards having been filled up with much larger 

 work. Three saihng boats, two of which were fitted with motor engines, 

 were built at one of the smaller estabHshments. 



