of tlie Fishery Board for Scotland. 



XV 



the West Coast, Stornoway, Ibarra, and Lochcarron and Skye districts 

 together accounted for nearly 63 per cent, of the landings. 



One of the most striking features of the Scottish herring fishing 

 industry during recent years has been the increasingly rapid adoption 

 of auxiliary motor power by sailing boats, and in accordance with this 

 development the particulars of the herring catch are this year for the 

 first time shown under the three headings of steam, motor, and sail. 

 The percentages of the total catch contributed by each type of vessel 

 during the year under review were, respectively, 56, 4, and 40. It 

 might not unnaturally have been expected that the introduction of 

 the motor boat would to some extent have arrested the transition, so 

 marked in recent years, from sail to steam, but the statistics do not 

 bear this out, and it is apparent that the increase in the fleet of 

 motor-propelled boats has been entirely at the expense of the sailing 

 boats. The extent to which the latter are being superseded by the 

 more efficient mechanically-propelled vessels may be gauged from the 

 fact that so recently as 1906 sailing vessels landed 69 per cent, of the 

 total catch, while in 1910 their contribution had fallen to 40 per 

 cent. ; and, however much it may be regretted, there can be little 

 doubt that the sailing boat, pure and simple, is rapidly becoming 

 obsolete in so far as herring fishing is concerned. 



Trawling for herrings off Barra Head, which has been engaged in 

 annually since 1906, when the possibilities of this method of capture 

 were first realised, was again tried, but the enterprise unfortunately 

 proved a complete failure. The absence of herrings was attributed, 

 rightly or wrongly, to the pollution of the fishing grounds last season 

 by saithe thrown overboard from trawlers after the livers had been 

 extracted. 



Generally, the results of the herring fishings of 1910 were satisfac- 

 tory to fishermen and shore workers, but it is to be feared that in 

 many instances curers were not so fortunate, the prices realised for 

 the cured article not having recouped them for their heavy initial 

 outlay for the fresh fish. 



Great Summer Herring Fishing. 



For statistical purposes the great summer herring fishing covers the 

 period 1st July to 31st December, but, as has been indicated in 

 previous reports, the tendency has been, in recent years, to commence 

 the fishing at an earlier date each season. Last year this tendency 

 was still more pronounced than heretofore — so much so, indeed, that 

 operations were in full swing early in May, with the result that the 

 quantity landed by the 30th June was almost equal to that landed 

 during the remainder of the year. 



With regard to the actual statistics, the total catch for the official 

 period was 2,874,069 cwts., valued at £939,849, as compared with 

 2,965,127 cwts. and £1,162,116 in the preceding year. The falling off 

 in the catch was entirely attributable to the failure of the fishing in 

 August, the month in which, in former years, the heaviest fishings 

 were wont to be landed ; and although there was a recrudescence of 

 activity during September, by that time the greater part of the fishing 

 fieet had gone to the East Anglian fishing. The failure of the fishing 

 in August was probably due not so much to any lack of herrings on 



