of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xli 



FISH CURED. 

 I. Herrings. 



Fishcuring continues to occupy an important position among the 

 subsidiary industries connected with fishing, and this notwithstanding 

 the great improvement which has of recent years been effected in the 

 matter of providing better carrying facilities between the fishing 

 stations and the great industrial centres. Until the carrying facilities 

 afforded become cheaper, however, the curing industry will continue to 

 go on flourishing, as the principal factors in the case are cheap and 

 efficient distribution. Although the herring fishing is prosecuted to a 

 greater or lesser extent all through the year, it is usually concentrated 

 on one particular stretch of coast at a particular season. Thus we 

 have a winter fishing prosecuted only from Firth of Forth stations, in 

 Wick district, in Shetland and in Stornoway district, and the !Skye 

 lochs. Then the early summer fishing comes into operation in the 

 Outer Hebrides and in Lochfyne, while at its close the very important 

 "great summer " fishing is opened, chiefly in Orkney and Shetland and 

 on the East Coast of Scotland. Such being the case, the catch is usually 

 greatly in excess of the demand for fresh fish, and the means of 

 distribution are not equal to the occasion, while the charges are higher 

 than would justify any attempt to dispose of the fish in the densely- 

 populated inland centres. Consequently, means have to be adopted 

 for preserving the fish in some form until a more convenient season 

 for distribution, or until a time when remote markets can be reached. 

 The greater use of ice as a preservative has, of course, to a small 

 extent met the difficulty, but fish kept in ice for any length of time 

 quickly lose their natural flavour, and do not, therefore, meet with the 

 same demand for consumption fresh as does the cured article. This 

 is shown by the fact that the bulk of the herrings shipped in ice to 

 Hamburg and other German ports is usually bought for the purpose 

 of being tinned or otherwise preserved (in multifarious ways) in 

 German curing establishments. Thus the husbanding of the supply 

 of fresh fish in such a way as to dispose of it to the best advantage is 

 an important factor in the welfare of the industry. 



The principal change in the conditions under which the industry is 

 carried on has arisen from the increased employment of steamers 

 and motor boats in the capture of the fish, as the result has been to 

 eliminate in great measure, in so far as these classes of boats are con- 

 cerned, " over-days' " or stale fish from the catches. On the other 

 hand, their ability to cover large areas of water in a short space of 

 time has enabled them to locate shoals of herrings which would 

 probably have escaped the notice of sailing craft, with the result that 

 herring fishing will in future be more generally prosecuted all the 

 year round. Another tendency for which they are mainly responsible 

 is the greater concentration of the industry at a few important 

 centres which afford facilities for entering harbour at all states of the 

 tide, and at which trading steamers can ship the cured herrings direct 

 for the Continent, with the result that the smaller villages with their 

 curing stations are gradually becoming extinct, or merely places for 

 laying up during the short winter recess. 



Last summer curing operations on the East Coast began at a much 



