xviii 



Ttoenty-ninth Annual Report 



The total herring catch amounted to 2,544,807 cwts., valued at 

 £572,855, as compared with 1,314,123 cwts. and £343,368 in the 

 preceding year, and, as ah-eady indicated, the increase was confined 

 to the East Coast and Orkney and Shetland, every district from 

 Eyemouth to Shetland inclusive showing an advance, in some 

 instances of from 200 to 250 per cent., and even 500 per cent., 

 upon the preceding year's figures. On the West Coast the only 

 increase of note occurred in Inveraray district, where the catch 

 rose from 1700 cwts. to 16,500 cwts. The inferior quality of the 

 herrings landed on the East Coast and in Orkney and Shetland 

 during the early fishing, as compared with those caught later in the 

 season, is reflected in the prices obtained, the average price per cwt. 

 of the combined catches being 4s. 6d., as against 6s. 6d. in the case 

 of the fish landed after 30th June. 



Winter Herring Fishing. 



The total product of the winter herring fishing, which covers the 

 first quarter of the year, was 268,350 cwts., which realised £81,604, 

 these figures representing increases of 6303 cwts. and £17,345 upon 

 the figures for 1909. The Firth of Forth, Wick, and Stornoway are 

 the chief centres of this fishing, but only in the first-named locality 

 was any improvement manifested, the other districts mentioned 

 showing decreases — in the case of Stornoway to the extent of 35 per 

 cent., for which unfavourable weather was chieflj responsible; and 

 that the gross total should show an increase in these circumstances 

 was due to the facts that for the first time in its history a winter 

 herring fishing was prosecuted from Mallaig, and that the catch for 

 Shetland district was a record one. The quantity landed at Mallaig 

 was 22,500 cwts., as against 4300 cwts. in 1909, and some of the 

 steamers engaged made quite remarkable earnings during the time 

 they were employed. In the case of Shetland, where 20,300 cwts. 

 were landed, it is doubtful whether, prior to 1909, the winter catch 

 ever exceeded 1000 cwts. In Lochbroom district the fishing was a 

 complete failure, but fortunately this was to a large extent counter- 

 balanced by the increased success attained in Lochcarron and Skye. 

 The increase in value was referable to the East Coast, West Coast, and 

 Orkney and Shetland, in the ratio of, roughly, 4:3:2. 



(h) SPBATS, SPARLINGS, AND MACKEREL. 



Sprat fishing in Scotland is confined to the Firths of Forth and 

 Tay and the Inverness and Beauly Firths. During the year under 

 review the fishing in the Firth of Forth was a failure, with the result 

 that, notwithstanding considerable increases in the other localities 

 mentioned, the total catch amounted to only 9675 cwts., as compared 

 with 19,379 cwts, in 1909. Fortunately for the fishermen engaged, 

 the shortage in the supplies so greatly enhanced prices that the total 

 value (£2894) fell short of that for the preceding year by only £108. 

 In recent years Scottish sprats have been in keen demand by Nor- 

 wegian and Swedish buyers, by whom they are exported to be put up 

 as sardines, but last year, owing to the failure of the fishing in the 

 Fii'th of Forth, these buyers were compelled to turn for their supplies 



