xvi 



Thirty-third Annual Report 



The usual statistics as to motor boats will be found in Appendix A, 

 No. 1 (page 8), but the information there given may be supplemented 

 by the following table giving the numbers in each class on the different 

 sections of the coast : — 



First Class. 



Second 

 Class. 



Third 

 Class. 



Total 



Total 



Districts. Ov^er 45 



30 to 45 



18 to 30 



Under IS 



1914. 



1913. 



feet keel. 



feet keel. 



feet keel. 



feet keel. 







Eyemouth to Fraser- 













biiriih 104 



80 



53 



1 



238 



160 



Moray Firth . . 45 



10 



57 



11 



123 



80 



Orkney and Shetland 



4 



18 



16 



38 



39 



West Coast (except 













Firth of Clyde) . 3 



13 



39 



1 



56 



40 



Firth of Clyde . ... 



6 



230 



3 



239 



204 



Totals . . 152 



113 



397 



32 



694 



523 



No outstanding development in the use of motor power falls to be 

 recorded. The additions to the fleet have principally been in districts 

 where the benefits of motor propulsion have already been demon- 

 strated, and the districts which have been slow to adopt motors are 

 still backward. It is, of course, only in some cases that this backward- 

 ness is due to the lack of enterprise. At the main centres of the steam 

 fishing fleet, for example, motor power for drifters has not found favour, 

 while the pursuit of the herring fishery has left the fishermen little time 

 or attention to devote to the subsidiary fishings, for which the smaller 

 classes of motor boats have proved themselves eminently suitable. 



From the table on page xv, it will be observed that the greatest 

 increase was again in the second class, but that substantial additions 

 were also made to both sections of the first class. The increase in the 

 largest class (over 45 feet keel) — ^the gi-eatest yet recorded in any year 

 — ^is one of the striking features of the table, in view of the experience 

 in previous years. 



The East Coast districts show an increase of 121 of all classes, 

 and the West Coast an increase of 51 , but Orkney and Shetland return a 

 decrease of 1 . 



On the East Coast the principal increases were recorded in the 

 districts of Anstruther, Montrose, Banff, Wick, Leith, Fraserburgh, 

 and Eyemouth, the additions in those districts being 24, 19, 19, 16, 

 13, 11, and 10 respectively, or collectively 112 out of a total of 121. 



In Anstruther the increase was largely due to the success which 

 motor boats attained during the winter herring fishing in the Firth 

 of Forth, and to the good earnings of the small motor line boats. As 

 mentioned in the Report for 1913, the motor has re-created the small 

 line fishing industry in the district, and the fleet of motor yawls has 

 doubled during the year. 



In Montrose districfthe increase was attributable to the continued 

 superiority of the results obtained by motor boats at line fishing, and 

 for the increase in the Banff district fleet the village of Whitehills is 

 again mainly responsible. 



In the Firth of Clyde districts there was an addition of 35, Campbel- 

 town, Ballantrac, and Inveraray having increases of 15, 14, and 8 

 respectively, while Greenock was stationary, and Rothesay showed a 

 decrease of 2. 



