of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



188 



months of January and February, heavy hauls were brought in from 

 the neighbourhood of Skerryvore and the Irish coast. 



The fisheries of the Clyde districts, which for the past five years have 

 been the lowest on record, showed little signs of improvement. 



The herring fishing, upon whose success the prosperity of the in- 

 dustry so much depends, was attended with poor results. 



The outstanding feature of the year in the Clyde districts was the 

 large number of boats that were fitted with auxiliary motor power. 

 The motor most in evidence is the " Kelvin," the initial cost of which 

 is about £74. The Clyde skiff is well adapted for its reception, and 

 the boats in which it has been fitted were by far the most successful of 

 the season. 



Early in June large shoals of herrings made their appearance at 

 various points in Inveraray district, and fair takes were secured, but 

 unfortunately by the end of July the great body of the fish had removed 

 to more open waters, where the fishing could only be carried on under 

 favourable weather conditions. Although the catch shows a slight 

 improvement on the returns of the previous year, the results were 

 again disappointing. Owing to the poor quality of the herrings 

 caught, there was a decrease in the price as compared with the previous 

 year of 4s. 6d. per cran. About 50 boats, with crews of four men in 

 each, prosecuted the fishing in Loch Snizort and Loch Broom towards 

 the end of the season with fairly satisfactory results. Mackerel were 

 more abundant in Lochfyne than for several seasons back. The fish 

 were of fair size and the quality good, but the markets were generally 

 unremuner ative . 



During the year under review the herring fishing in the Campbel- 

 town district yielded exceptionally poor results, particularly in the 

 local waters, while, owing to the poor quality landed, the price realised 

 was 3s. per cran under tliat of the previous year. The great bulk of the 

 herrings caught were obtained on the Ayrshire coast. It is gratifying 

 to note that the fishermen's earnings in other districts partially com- 

 pensated for the poor results in the local waters. 



The feature of the season was the large quantity of herrings (2000 

 crans) landed at Campbeltown by East Coast steam drifters prosecuting 

 the fishing off the North- West coast of Ireland. It appears that the 

 cheap coal which can be procured at Campbeltown was the means of 

 inducing several of these vessels to land occasional catches of herrings 

 there. The average price obtained was 14s. per cran. 



On account of the fishermen paying more attention to herring fish- 

 ing, great-line fishing, except at Gigha, was almost neglected. The 

 cod and saithe fishing prosecuted from this island was the most success- 

 ful for many years back. 



In Rothesay district the fishing showed a slight improvement on the 

 previous year's returns. The great bulk of the herrings were secured 

 with the seine net. Drift-net crews had generally a poor season. 

 This latter method of fishing is being gradually abandoned in the 

 Clyde waters. The average earnings of the seine-net crews were .£300, 

 while those of the drifters were from £65 to £85. 



Poor results attended the efforts of the fishermen of Greenock dis- 

 trict. A small fleet of boats prosecuted the various fishings from 

 practically all the towns on the coast from Saltcoats to Largs, but at 

 no time were operations attended with any great success, either at line 

 or net fishing. At Irvine the herring fishing was followed by several 

 local and stranger crews working both seine and drift nets. The 

 herrings were of indifferent size and quality, and realised low prices. 

 The earnings of the few boats employed ranged from £50 to £100. At 

 Millport, Largs, and Saltcoats also the catches were light and of poor 

 quality. 



