of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xxxiii 



from that port. This account was repeated in the three following years, 

 but they then came to tlie conclusion that the progress of the port 

 might be more clearly demonstrated if the subject were dealt with at 

 intervals of five years, instead of annually. As five years have 

 elapsed since the last special account was given, the time has now 

 arrived when the position of the Aberdeen fishing industry may again 

 fittingly be considered. 



Aberdecm is par excellence the headquarters of the steam trawling 

 industry, a fact which will be readily appreciated when it is stated 

 that out of a total fleet of 320 steam trawlers working from Scottish 

 ports, 217 fish from Aberdeen. The phenomenal progress which has 

 been made since the introduction into the district of steam trawling 

 and steam-line fishing as an organised industry 30 years ago is 

 evidenced in the following table : — 



Table showing the Number and Value of the Steam Trawlers and 

 Steam Liners belonging to or working from the Port of 

 Aberdeen during the years 1891-1910 : — 



Steam Fishing Vessels. 





N 



Limber. 



Value (including gear). 







Year. 



Trawler 



s. Liners. 



Trawlers. 



Liners. 



Total No. 



Total Value 









£ 



£ 





£ 



1891 



59 



6 



180,102 



12,720 



65 



192,822 



1895 



76 



19 



252,440 



45,980 



95 



298,420 



1900 



148 



26 



605,820 



69,100 



174 



674,920 



1905 



174 



42 



702,380 



84,950 



216 



787,330 



1910 



217 



53 



876,620 



121,015 



270 



997,635 



The evidence furnished by the above table of the rapid development 

 which has taken place, while sufficiently convincing in itself, is 

 corroborated by certain other information which is available Thus, 

 in 1893 (the first year in which detailed statistics are available), the 

 total number of fishermen belonging to the port was 1405, of whom 

 734 were employed on vessels propelled by sails or oars, 576 on 

 trawlers (two years previously only 255 men were engaged on 

 trawlers), and 95 in steam liners. In 1910 the number of men 

 engaged on trawlers alone was 2127, thus greatly exceeding the total 

 of all classes in 1893, and the men attached to other steam fishing 

 vessels had increased to 639, the number of men on sailing boats alone 

 having- fallen to about one- third of the total for 1893. Aberdeen owes 

 its position, too, in no small measure to the enlightened policy of the 

 harbour authorities in consistently keeping pace with the requirements 

 of the industry. The harbour has been continually deepened, and the 

 berthing and docking accommodation and wharfage space increased. 

 The fish market, also, has been regularly extended. Its construction 

 was begun in 1887 ; its length was increased by 250 feet in 1890, and 

 again by 250 feet in 1893 ; a further addition of 480 feet was made in 

 1900, and it was again extended in 1903. In its present form it 

 measures 673 yards long by about 16 yards broad, but the continuous 

 growth of the industry has again rendered the existing accommodation 

 inadequate, and a further extension of about 200 yards is now con- 

 templated. Two pontoon docks have also been consti'ucted, at a cost 



