Thirty-third Annual Report 



As compared with the previous year the immber of inspections 

 shows an increase of 588, whilst the number of cases of defective 

 gear has decreased by 21. It is thus obvious that the owners and 

 sldppers of trawl fishing vessels are paying more attention to the con- 

 dition of trawl gear, which is a matter for satisfaction, alike in their 

 own interests, and as safe-guarding the submarine cables. It will also 

 be observed from the above return that no complaint of defective 

 gear was recorded against a foreign trawler throughout the year. 



As a result of Admiralty Orders closing all East Coast ports of Great 

 Britain to neutral fishing craft on and after 1st October last, no foreign 

 trawlers were reported as having called at Scottish ports after the 

 month of September. 



WHALING. 



Whaling has now been carried on in Scottish waters for 12 years, 

 in which period 6272 whales have been captured. When operations 

 were first begun in this country, few could have foreseen that whaling 

 would develop into the world-wide industry it has since become, 

 but the success which attended pioneer efforts in the Antarctic revealed 

 the potential wealth of the grounds which still awaited exploitation, 

 with the result that capital was attracted to the industry, and numer- 

 ous new companies formed, whose operations within a few years ex- 

 tended to every quarter of the globe. At the present day the in- 

 dustry has attained such large dimensions as to occasion misgivings 

 in some quarters that the whale is in danger of extermination, and 

 in last year's Report it was shown that, in so far as the Scottish grounds 

 were concerned, this view was strongly supported by the statistics 

 of the annual catch, which showed a rapid and continuous decline 

 since 1909. The results of the season of 1914 would suggest, however, 

 that these fears were premature, as a substantial increase upon the 

 preceding year's figures was recorded. 



The total catch during the year under review amounted to 599 

 whales, as compared with 437 in 1913. The number, species, and 

 sex of the whales captm-ed are shown in the following table, together 

 with the totals for the preceding year. 



I. 



Species. 



Male. 



Female. 



Total 

 1914. 



Total 

 1913. 



Finner {Balaenoptera musculus) 



. 187 



138 



325 



259 



Sei {B. Borealis) 



. 140 



108 



248 



159 



Sperm (Physeter macrocephalus) 









8 



Bottlenose (Hyperoodon) . 









7 



Blue (B. Sibbaldi) . 



7 



12 



19 



2 



Northcaper {Balaena Biscayensis) 



4 



1 



5 



1 



Humpback {Megaptera) . 



1 



1 



2 



1 



Totals .... 



. 339 



260 



599 



437 



It will be seen from the above table that the bulk of the increase 

 was referable to Sei whales, which appear to have been exceptionally 

 abundant in 1914, although Finners were apparently also present 



