188 Appeiid.ices to Twenty-ninth Armual Report 



tions to manufacturers in England that there was to be no inward 

 curve in the construction of the basket at the middle fitch. Their 

 action in this matter will meet with the approval of the trade. 



Compared with the j^revious year, there was considerable activity in 

 the boat-building industry at practically all the principal ports on the 

 coast. Forty-eight steam drifters were built at a cost of £129,626, 

 and 25 steam trawlers at £150,697. Seven of the latter were for 

 foreign ports. With the exception of two 1st class boats, one of 

 which was built at Fraserburgh and the other at Buckie, the majority 

 of those constructed were 2nd and 3rd class craft. The 1st class boat 

 built at Fraserburgh was for the reception of a motor, and was to the 

 order of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland. Besides the 

 drifters above mentioned, several were built in England to the order of 

 Scottish fishermen. 



Extensive improvements on existing harbours for the accommodation 

 of the large craft now employed in tlie fisheries are being pushed for- 

 ward at Wick, Buckie, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen, and Stronsay with 

 considerable energy. It is expected that the progress made at Wick, 

 Fraserburgh, and Stronsay Harbours before the opening of another 

 season will be of such a nature as to relieve the congestion usually ex- 

 perienced on a busy fishing day at these ports. In connection with 

 steam herring fishing, facilities for the quick discharge of the herrings 

 to enable vessels to proceed to sea without loss of time are of the 

 greatest importance, and of these the chief is adequate harbour 

 accommodation. A further extension of the harbour of refuge at 

 Peterhead from the north side of the bay is also about to be commenced, 

 and this improvement will undoubtedly make the port of Peterhead — 

 owing to its proximity to the fishing ground — one of the foremost 

 stations on the coast. Besides the improvements already in hand, 

 there are projected schemes for Berwick, Eyemouth, Anstruther, and 

 Stonehaven Harbours. Centralisation of the fishing industry is 

 annually becoming more marked, and is having a depressing effect on 

 the trade of many of the towns and villages along the Aberdeen and 

 Morayshire coasts. 



John Skinner. 

 General hisj^ector of Sea Fisheries. 



Fishery Board for Scotland. 

 Edinburgh, 2%icl February 1911. 



Assistant Inspector of Sea Fisheries. 



During the year 1910 the various fisheries in the Northern division of 

 Scotland, from Oban to Stornoway on the West Coast, and from Shetland 

 to Buckie on the East Coast, were engaged in with good average success. 

 The most important of these is the herring fishery, which within recent 

 years has developed to such an extent that most of the fishermen now 

 devote the whole of their attention to this branch of the industry. Although 

 less reliable on the West Coast, especially in the lochs, where herrings are 

 frequently got in great abundance, more or less herrings are caught on the 

 West Coast in each month of the year. In the more important districts of 

 Wick, Orkney, and Shetland the fishing is practically .confined to the 

 summer months, but the tendency there also is for an extension of the 

 period in which the fishing may be prosecuted to advantage. During the 

 year under review operations were commenced in. these districts about a 

 month earlier than hitherto, with most gratifying results. For the month 

 of May alone the catch for these three districts was 113,054 crans, valued 



