of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



167 



so on, are very abundant, the numbers of sprats and young herring in our 

 estuaries would very likely be much greater, although the actual total 

 number of both fish in the sea would rapidly grow less. In this way, 

 then, we may find a possible explanation of the occurrence of fat and lean 

 fishing season-i in the various sprat fisheries round our coasts. 



In connection with the above ideas I interviewed several fishermen and 

 buyers belonging to Dundee, Broughty -Ferry, and St. Andrews, and 

 obtained information from them which went to support my theories. 



I found that very few sprats and young herring had been present 

 in St. Andrews Bay during the autumn months of 1905, and that little or 

 no cod were caught there during the same time. After, however, a week 

 of storms in the North Sea, a large shoal of sprats, unmixed with young 

 herring, made its appearance in St. Andrews Bay on the 2nd or 3rd of 

 November, 1905, and large numbers of cod and whiting were being caught 

 there at the same time. 



All the cod, the fishermen informed me, were simply gorged with sprats, 

 and many of the cod were vomiting up the sprats whilst being hauled on 

 board. 



This large shoal of sprats made its appearance in the Tay estuary about 

 the same time as it did in St. Andrews Bay, and on the 6th of November 

 the largest catch of the season — namely, 186f crans — was made by the 

 Tay sprat fishermen. 



Another, if not greater, storm of easterly gales and rain took place on 

 the 13th November, 1905, and caused great loss and damage to fishing 

 apparatus in St. Andrews Bay. It also completely cleared out all the cod 

 and codling as well as the sprats in the bay, and since that date, and 

 until the close of the sprat fishing season towards the end of the following 

 February, the fishing in St. Andrews Bay was a complete failure. 



This great storm caused little or no increase in the numbers of sprats in 

 the Tay estuary, so that the bulk of the St. Andrews Bay sprats must 

 have sought shelter elsewhere. 



Following closely upon the disappearance of the cod and codling from 

 St. Andrews Bay, or in the course of the next two or three days after the 

 storm, the Tay sprat fishing almost suddenly fell away and became a 

 complete failure, and, further, it remained a failure along with the St. 

 Andrews Bay fishing until the close of the Tay sprat fishing season. 



I also found, upon further inquiry, that the season of 1904-1905 was 

 a poor cod and codling fishing season in St. Andrews Bay, and this, of 

 course, entirely coincides with the poor and unproductive sprat fishing in 

 the Tay estuary at the same time. 



With regard to the difference in the quality of the sprats during the 

 two past seasons, it may be that owing to the mildness and exceptional 

 dryness of the season 1904-1905 the younger forms of the sprat were 

 enabled to remain much longer and much more constantly in the Tay 

 estuary than usual, and that the cold and heavy spates of the past season 

 1905-1906 drove the younger and smaller forms of sprats out into the 

 sea. These and like questions, however, can only be answered by 

 observations and experiments extending over a period of several years, and 

 require very careful scientific study. 



Note on the External Differences between the Sprat 

 and the Young of the Herring. 



There is generally not much difficulty in distinguishing a sprat from a 

 young herring, even when the external features are only taken into 

 account and the internal structure left entirely alone. 



