xxxii 



Tweniii-iiinth Annual Ixeport 



fishermen did fairly well, but to many curers the season was disastrous. 

 The abnormal height to which prices rose will be better realised when 

 it is stated that the catch, although less than that of 1909 by over 

 285,000 cwts., realised within £11,400 of the value recorded for that 

 year, and £2298 more than was realised in 1908, when the catch was 

 greater by 550,906 cwts. The total catch for the season amounted to 

 1,243,207 cwts., valued at £456,528, as compared with 1,528,628 

 cwts. and £467,866 in the preceding year. Unfortunately, earnings 

 were offset by exceptionally heav}^ losses of gear, as a perusal of the 

 annual reports of Fishery Officers will show (Appendix L). 



The replacement of sail by mechanically-propelled vessels, which is 

 now such a notable feature of the herring fishing industr}^ was still 

 further exemplified during the season under review, when 706 

 steamers, 51 motor boats, and 500 sailing vessels took part in the 

 English herring fishing, as against 645 steam and 614 sail and motor 

 vessels in 1909. The average earnings of the steamers amounted to 

 £530 ; of the motor boats, £295 ; and of the sailing boats, £134. 

 The earnings of the steamers were practically identical with those of 

 last 3^ear (£529), but those of the sailing boats compare unfavourably 

 with last year's earnings, which amounted to £204. Til e latter figure 

 was, it is true, somewhat inflated by the inclusion of the motor boat 

 earnings, which could not be obtained separately ; but although the 

 decrease is to some extent attributable to this circumstance, the 

 principal reason was the stormier weather experienced, which, of 

 course, handicapped sailing boats to a much greater degree than 

 steamers. 



The fleet which repaired to the Irish fishings consisted of 165 

 steamers and 35 sail boats, as compared with 164 steamers and 182 

 sailing vessels last year; and the total catch amounted to 153,819 

 cwts,, valued at £42,011, as against 122,278 cwts. and £36,036 in 

 1909. It is evident from these figures that the success attained was 

 considerably greater than in 1909, and this is confirmed by a com- 

 parison of the average earnings, which amounted to £237 for steamers 

 and £84 for sailing boats, as against £177 and £38 respectively in 

 the preceding year, 



Scottish fishermen continue to show no lack of enterprise in the 

 prosecution of their calling, and an instructive instance of the rewards 

 which are to be gained by those with sufficient initiative to depart 

 from the beaten track is cited in the annual report of the General 

 Inspector of Sea Fisheries, wherein it is stated that at the close of 

 the Yarmouth fishing in 1909 a Lossiemouth steam drifter operated 

 off Padstow, and in a few weeks grossed over <£1000, During the 

 year under review this drifter, along with several others, repeated the 

 experiment, and met wii;h remarkable success, and it is not impossible 

 that this departure may be the small beginning of what may 

 ultimately develop into a great herring fishery off the south-west 

 coast of England. 



THE WHITE-FISH FISHING INDUSTKY OF THE PORT 

 OF ABERDEEN, 



The dominating position occupied by Aberdeen in the Scottish 

 white-fish fishing industry led the Board to include in their Annual 

 Report for the year 1902 a special account of the fisheries prosecuted 



