186 



Appendices to Twenty-ninth Annual Ueporl 



year the fish realised 25s. per cran for freshing, but thereafter prices 

 fell to 4s. and 5s. per cran for curing purposes. During the summer 

 months large shoals of mackerel made their appearance in the waters 

 of Barra district, but as there were no buyers present 300 crans, or 

 practically half the quantity landed in the district, were disposed of 

 for manure. The number of barrels of mackerel cured on the West 

 Coast was 1585, as compared with 1383 in 1909. 



Attempts to develop a mackerel-fishing industry in the Moray Firth 

 and ofi the Orkney and Shetland coasts, Stornoway, Barra, and Loch 

 Boisdale, have been made within the last 15 years by fishermen and 

 private firms engaged in the fish-curing trade, and in every instance 

 these attempts had to be given up because the results proved un- 

 remunerative. Owing to the importance of the great summer herring 

 fishing, the West Coast fishermen are reluctant to enter into the prose- 

 cution of a regular mackerel fishing. There is an element of un- 

 certainty about the mackerel fishing which discouraged fish-curers and 

 fishermen from risking time and capital in its prosecution. The 

 appearance of the fish is very uncertain. They may be fairly plentiful 

 during one season and absent during the next two. They may remain 

 on the ground for only a week or two, and unless a fishing is made in 

 that short period it cannot be made at all. Mackerel are surface 

 fishes, and their movements are most erratic. In a series of three or 

 four years a fisherman may have a successful season, but the fluctua- 

 tions in the fishing have the effect of making the fishermen indifferent. 

 It seems perfectly clear that mackerel fishing can only be profitably 

 carried on as an adjunct of the herring fishing. 



Some light catches of sprats were secured in the Inverness and 

 Beauly Firths, and also in the Tay, but in the Firth of Forth this 

 fishing was practically a failure. The total landings in Scotland were 

 9675 cwts., valued at £2894, as compared with 19,379 cwts. and 

 £3002 in 1909. No reliance can be placed on this fishery, the move- 

 ments of these tiny fish being so uncertain that years often elapse be- 

 fore they return to the same waters again. During the past two years 

 the supply of Scottish sprats was short of the demand for exportation 

 to Norway and Sweden. Owing to the failure of the sprat fishing, and 

 the non-appearance of the fish in the Firth of Forth, the Swedish 

 buyers had to look for them elsewhere, and, luckily, a good fishing 

 struck up at Brightlingsea, where large supplies were obtained at very 

 reasonable prices. Although large quantities of sprats are annually 

 secured in Norway, the Scottish article is much sought after. 

 Formerly London was the chief market for this class of fish. 



The curing of herrings for exportation was carried on at practically 

 all the stations on the Scottish coast. The quantity treated in this 

 way amounted to over two million barrels, and closely approached the 

 record figures of 1907. The East Coast districts accounted for 

 1,148,241 of the total cured-gutted, Orkney and Shetland for 786,238, 

 and the West Coast for 143,215. The demand for well-cured herrings 

 is greatly on the increase, particularly in Kussia and i^ermany, and, 

 in a lesser degree, in America. In connection with this branch of the 

 industry, it may be mentioned that upwards of 17,000 gutters and 

 packers, 2600 coopers, and upwards of 4000 carters and labourers were 

 employed on the Scottish coast. The conditions under which opera- 

 tions are now being carried on compared with ten or twenty years ago 

 have considerably improved. There is more shelter, better housing 

 accommodation, and up-to-date sanitary arrangements. 



The progress that is now being made in the German deep-sea herring 

 fishery carried on along the East Coasts of Scotland and England is 

 most marked. The quantity cured in 1910 was 412,000 barrels. 



