8 



Part III. — Twenty-seventh Annual Report 



estimated sum per annum of about £80, which represents extra 

 expenditure for coals, oils, &c., and for occasional assistance to the 

 attendant. 



The Fishery Statistics. 



Since the establishment of the Fishery Board in 1882, the Annual 

 Reports have contained a large and important series of statistical 

 tables relating to the sea fisheries of Scotland, and in a paper in this 

 part of the present Eeport, those which refer to the quantities and 

 values of the fish and shell-fish landed have been collated and dis- 

 cussed, and certain conclusions have been drawn from them as to the 

 increase or decrease of particular kinds of fish in quantity or value, 

 or in relation to the methods of capture. The statistics referring to 

 the shell-fish go back to the year 1883, while from 1889 the quantity 

 and value of most of the fishes landed have been detailed for each 

 coast separately, and since 1892 the quantity and value of those taken 

 by the three chief methods of capture — line fishing, trawling, and 

 net fishing. The main lessons to be drawn from a study of the 

 statistics over the period are that very satisfactory progress has been 

 made in exploiting the sea fisheries as a whole ; that a marked change 

 has taken place as to the relative position of line-fishing and trawling 

 with regard to the supply of demersal or bottom fishes ; and that in 

 the later years the great net fishery for herrings has been very con- 

 siderably developed. 



The aggregate quantity of fish landed, of all kinds and by all 

 methods of fishing, on the coasts of Scotland in the 21 years, 1888- 

 1908, amounted to 131,561,000 cwts., or an average of 6,407,670 

 cwts. per annum. In the first ten years, 1888-1897, the total 

 quantity was 56.609,000 cwts., showing an annual average of 5,661,000 

 cwts., whereas in the last ten years the total quantity amounted to 

 71.394,000 cwts., the annual average being 7,139,000 cwts. There 

 was thus an increase in the quantity of fish landed of 26 per cent. 

 The increase amoncr demersal fishes — that is, those which live at or 

 near the bottom, as cod, haddock, flat-fishes, skates, &c. — in the period 

 from 1892, amounted to about 20 per cent. ; while the increase among 

 pelagic fishes, which in Scotland means practically the herring alone, 

 since 1892 amounted to about 31 per cent. 



The variation on the different coasts was noteworthy. On the 

 East Coast, in the latter half of the period 1889-1908, there was an 

 increase in the total quantity of fishes landed amounting to about 11 

 per cent. ; whereas on the West Coast there was a decrease amounting 

 to nearly 17 per cent, while at Orkney and Shetland there was an 

 increase of about 139 per cent., due to the great development of the 

 herring fishing at Shetland. On the East Coast, in the latter half of 

 the period 1892-1908 (during which the methods of fishing were 

 distinguished), the increase in the quantity of pelagic fish landed 

 amounted to about 6 per cent., while the increase at Orkney and 

 Shetland was 186 per cent. On the other hand, there was a decrease 

 on the West Coast amounting to about 7 per cent. Among the 

 demersal fishes there occurred an increase of about 47 per cent, on 

 the East Coast, and a decrease of about 35 per cent, on the West 

 Coast. On all coasts a decrease in the quantity of fish taken by line 

 was marked ; on the East Coast it amounted to nearly 49 per cent., 



