xxxiv 



Thirty-third Annual Report 



(d) SHELL-FISH. 



Judged by the financial yield, the shell-fish fisheries were prose- 

 cuted with very indifferent success in 1914. Compared with the 

 returns for the preceding year, the aggregate value, which amounted 

 to £65,029, shows a falling off of £7328, or 10 per cent., and an examina- 

 tion of the records reveals the fact that the year's operations were the 

 least lucrative since 1889 — a period of a quarter of a century ! The 

 principal cause of the decrease was the depressed state of the market 

 for lobsters which followed upon the outbreak of war, although the 

 decreased yield of the crab and oyster fisheries was also responsible 

 in a large degree. Of the total value, the East Coast contributed 

 38 per cent., Orkney and Shetland 9 per cent., and the West Coast 

 53 per cent., as compared with 35, 10, and 55 per cent, respectively 

 in the preceding year. 



Lobsters. 



Owing to the cutting off of the Hamburg market, to which a large 

 proportion of the Scottish lobster catch was wont to be consigned, and 

 to the falling off of the demand in the home markets consequent upon 

 the tendency which manifested itself to eschew luxuries, the lobster 

 fishery was severely hit by the war, and for a time in the autumn the 

 proceeds of consignments sent to the English centres fell as low as 2d. 

 per lobster, as compared with the normal average of Is. The result 

 of this is seen in the returns, which show a decrease in both catch and 

 value, the output for 1914 amounting to 6776 hundreds, which realised 

 £3L934, as compared with 6811 hundreds and £36,775 in 1913. 



Crabs. 



Crabs appear to have been somewhat scarce in Scottish waters in 

 1914, particularly on the East Coast where the bulk of the catch is 

 obtained, and the returns show a falling off in number of 322,000, and 

 in value of £1702, from those for the preceding year. The total out- 

 put in 1914 was 18,919 hundreds, which realised £12,468. 



Oysters. 



The output of oysters shows the remarkable decrease of 611,000, 

 or 46 per cent., the figures for 1914 and 1913 being respectively 7049 

 hundreds and 13,161 hundreds, while the disparity in value is equally 

 marked, the totals for the two years being respectively £2720 and 

 £4757. At present the Scottish oyster fishing industry is almost 

 wholly confined to Loch Kyan, and it was consequently to the 

 diminished productivity of these beds that the shrinkage was 

 due. 



An interesting feature of the returns is the appearance of Orkney 

 district as a contributor to the supply. At one time oyster beds were 

 numerous all round the coast of Scotland — those situated in the Firth 

 of Forth were formerly the most important in Europe — and one of the 

 most flourishing of these was situated in the Bay of Firth, Orkney. 



