134 



Pad 171. — Twenty-seventh Annual Report 



The decrease was in the fish taken by line. The quantity of the line- 

 caught fish in the first period was 1,851,713 cwts., the average being 

 231.464 cwts.. whereas in the eight years 1901-1908 the quantity was 

 1,113.134 cwts.. the average per annum being 139,179 cwts. There was 

 thus a decrease of about 40 per cent, inuthe quantity taken by line, which 

 is rather under the percentage decrease in the line-caught fish on the East 

 Coast in the same period. On the other hand, the trawl-caught fish, 

 though not of the same importance as on the East Coast, also increased in 

 quantity in the second portion on the West Coast. In the first period, 

 1892—1899, the total amounted to only 40.497 cwts.. the annual average 

 being 5,062 cwts._ In the years 1901-1908 the quantity was 106,454 cwts., 

 and the average 13,307 cwts. There was thus an increase of 65,957 cwts., 

 or about 163 per cent. Bnt the proportion of the trawl-caught fish landed 

 on the West Coast is still much under that of the line fishing, thus con- 

 trasting with the condition on the East Coast, as shown above. 



The class of pelagic fish, which means essentially herring, is the great one 

 on the West Coast, although here also one finds a decrease rather than an 

 increase over the period covered by these statistics. In the seventeen years 

 the aggregate quantity landed amounted to 12.828,971 cwts., the average 

 being 754.645 cwts. In the first period, 1892-1899, the quantity was 

 6,212,936 cwts., and the average per annum 776,617 cwts. ; in the period 

 1901-1908 the total was 5,775,389 cwts., and the average 721,924 cwts. 

 There was thus a decrease of about 7 per cent. The decrease in this class 

 i*. however, relatively less than that among the demersal fish, for in the 

 first period the proportion was 23 3 per cent, demersal fish and 76 7 pelagic, 

 whereas in the second period the proportion was 17 4 demersal and 82 6 

 pelagic. 



The above description is limited to the great classes of fishing and the 

 totals of all kinds of fish landed. It is necessary now to refer to the 

 different fishes themselves and to see how they have varied during the 

 period covered by the statistics. 



East Coast. 



Pelagic Fish. — By far the greater part of the group included under this 

 term consists of herring; in i908, for example, they represented 99'1 per 

 cent, of the total, and in the ten years 1899-1908 they represented 99 per 

 cent., while sprats represented 0*9 per cent, and mackerel only 0 - l per cent. 

 The aggregate quantity of herrings landed on the East Coast in the twenty 

 years, 1889-1908, amounted to 50,629,474 cwts., giving an average per 

 annum for the period of 2,531,474 cwts. From a comparison of the two 

 ten -year periods it appeal's that rather less herrings have been taken in the 

 second period than in the first. In the years 1889-1898 the aggregate 

 quantity was 26,134,400 cwts., the average per annum being 2,613,440 

 cwts.; in the period 1899-1908 the aggregate quantity was 24,495.074 

 cwts.. and the annual average 2,449,507 cwts. The decrease thus amounted 

 to 6 per cent., comparing one period with another. It was in the main due 

 to poor years in 1899, 1900, and 1901, when the quantities were below 

 2,000,000 cwts. This is indicated in the grouping of the figures in quin- 

 quennial periods, as follows : — 



Years. Cwts. Years. Cwts. 



1889-1893.... 2,641.906 1899-1903 2,019,785 



1894-1898 2,584,974 1904-1908 2,879,230 



The highest year in the period was 1907, with 3,773,624 cwts. ; the next 

 best was 1893, with 3,158,346 cwts. ; the lowest was 1897, when the total 

 amounted to 1,503,693 cwts. The first year, 1899, and the last, 1908, were 



