of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



133 



The increase was thus small, amounting to about 6 per cent, when the two 

 periods are compared. 



Orkney and Shetland. 



The aggregate quantity of fish landed in these islands in the twenty years, 

 1889-1908, amounted to 24,634,278 cwts., or an annual average of 1,231,714 

 cwts. The quantity landed in the ten years, 1889-1898, was 7,259,991 

 cwts., the average per annum being 725,999 ; in the last ten years, 

 1899-1908, the quantity was 17,374,287 cwts., the annual average being 

 1,737,429 cwts. There was thus an increase of 139 per cent, in the latter 

 period. 



In the period 1892-1908, in which the methods of fishing are distin- 

 / guished, the aggregate was 22,909,325 cwts., and the annual average 

 1,347,607 cwts. 



The total of the demersal fish landed in that period amounted to 

 2,778,496 cwts., the annual average being 163,441 cwts. Of this quantity 

 2.^578,985 cwts. were taken by line, and 199,511 cwts. by trawl. In the 

 eight years 1892-1899 the quantity taken by line was 1,670,476 cwts., the 

 annual average being 208,809 cwts. ; in the last eight years the quantity 

 was 776,217 cwts., or an average of 97,027 cwts. per annum. There thus 

 occurred a decrease of 53 per cent, in the line fish between the two periods. 

 The landings of trawled fish appear to have been irregular in the earlier 

 years, the first notification of them being in 1894. The total to 1908 

 amounted to 199,511 cwts. In the first eight years the quantity was 

 21,435 cwts., the yearly average being 2,679 cwts. ; in tlie last eight years 

 of the period the quantity was 164,073 cwts., the average per annum being 

 20,509 cwts. There was therefore an increase of trawled fish to the extent 

 of 665 per cent. The proportion to the other classes of fish is, however, 

 inconsiderable. 



The quantity of pelagic fish landed in the seventeen years amounted to 

 20,130,839 cwts., the average per annum being 1,184,167 cwts. In the eight 

 years, 1892-1899, the quantity was 4,920,678 cwts., the average per annum 

 being 615,085 cwts. ; in the years 1901-1908 the aggregate was 14,054,054 

 cwts. and the average 1,756,757 cwts., an increase of 9,133,376 cwts., or 

 186 per cent. This is the outstanding feature of the fishery statistics for 

 the region, and it contrasts with the comparatively small increase on the 

 East Coast of Scotland. In the first period, 1892-1899, the proportion of 

 demersal to pelagic fish was 25*6 per cent., but in the second period it sank 

 to 6*3 per cent., the pelagic representing 93*7 per cent, of the fish landed. 



West Coast. 



In the twenty years the aggregate quantity of fish landed on the West 

 Coast amounted to 19,799,428 cwts., the average per annum for the period 

 being 989,971 cwts. In the first ten years the total was 10,813,319 cwts., 

 the average per annum being 1,081,332 cwts. In the last ten years of the 

 period the total quantity was 8,986,109 cwts., the annual average being 

 898,611 cwts. There was thus in the second period, contrasting with the 

 condition on the East Coast, a considerable decline, amounting to 1,827,210 

 cwts., or nearly 17 per cent. 



The quantity of bottom or demersal fish landed in the seventeen years 

 1892-1908, both by line and trawl, amounted to 3,292,664 cwts., giving an 

 annual average of 193,686 cwts. In the eight years 1892-1899 the total 

 of these fishes was 1,892,210 cwts., the average being 236,526 cwts. per 

 annum ; in the eight years 1901-1908 the total was 1,219,888 cwts., and 

 the average 152,486 cwts. There was thus a decrease in the latter period 

 of 672,322 cwts., or above 35 per cent., in the demersal fishes landed. 



