xxviii 



Thirty-third Annual Report 



ing operations on account of the war, sincB tlie shortage as compared 

 witli the preceding year's catch was ah'eady pronounced when war 

 broke out, the figures for 1914 and 1913 as at 31st July being respect- 

 ively 355,789 cwts. and 441,518 cwts. The total quantity landed 

 was 610,522 cwts., valued at £474,876, as compared with 730,104 

 cwts. and £549,711 in the preceding year. The decrease in quantity 

 is referable almost wholly to Aberdeen, where the trawl landings fell 

 short of those of 1913 by 111,511 cwts., or 26 per cent., as at Leith, 

 which ranks second to Aberdeen as a traveling centre, the landings 

 were practically identical with those of 1913, while the total quantity 

 landed by liners increased from 85,000 cwts. to 100,000 cwts. This 

 increase, again, was due to the rapid development which is taldng place 

 in motor line-fishing, and it is not improbable that small-line fishing, 

 which as an industry was becoming moribund, is destined to take a 

 new lease of life with the advent of the motor. During the year 

 under review the contribution from this source amounted to 28,291 

 cwts., valued at £27,734 — an increase of 18,011 cwts., or 175 per cent, 

 in quantity, and of £17,094, or 161 per cent, in value, as compared 

 with the figures for 1913. The major part of the increase occurred in 

 Montrose, Leith, and Shetland districts, where the fishermen have been 

 quick to realise the possibilities of the motor boat in this connection. 

 On the other hand, sailing liners find it a difficult matter to earn an 

 adequate livelihood, and their contribution fell from 74,000 cwts. to 

 71,000 cwts. during the year. 



The most striking feature of the haddock fishing in 1914 was the 

 extraordinary abundance of small haddocks during the latter half 

 of the year. These very small haddocks are kjiown in the trade under 

 various names — " seed " haddocks, " ping-pongs," etc. — and so 

 abundant were they that at Granton, for example, they frequently con- 

 stituted from two-thirds to three-fourths of the entire landings of the 

 trawl fleet. It is an interesting fact that this pletliora of small haddocks 

 was predicted so far back as November 1913 by the observers on 

 board the research steamer Goldseeker, who based their conclusion on 

 the large numbers of small haddocks, ranging in size from 14 cms. to 

 20 cms. (5J-8 ins.), which v/ere found escaping through the meshes of the 

 ordinary trawl net, to be caught in the net of much smaller mesh with 

 which the cod end of the ordinary trawl is enveloped for experimental 

 purposes, and whose scales showed that they were not yet a year old. 

 This conclusion was confirmed by hauls made six months later, when 

 small haddocks, whose average size lay between 19 cms. and 20 cms., 

 were obtained in extraordinary numbers. An examination of the scales 

 of these haddocks showed that they were all of one year's spawning, 

 and had been hatched in the spring of 1913, and the inference was 

 clear that the spawning conditions for haddocks in 1913 had been 

 exceptionally favourable. We have therefore good reason to anticipate 

 that the next few years will constitute, in so far as the haddock is 

 concerned, one of the periods of abundance which the records show 

 to alternate with periods of dearth in this fishery. 



During July and August large quantities of these small fish were 

 thrown back into the sea after each drag by trawl skippers, as they 

 were considered unsaleable, while of those brought ashore 1812 cwts. 

 were sold as manure, but when the scarcity which followed upon the 

 outbreak of hostilities set in, they rapidly appreciated in value, until 



