Ixii 



Thirty-third Annual Report 



How small this quantity is may be jud<^ed from the statistics of 

 past years. These show that the mean annual catcli of herrings in 

 the loch for the period 1863 to 1906 was 25,180 crans, and for the 

 eighteen years up to 1906 it was 27,375 crans, while the largest quantity 

 taken in any single year was 56,820 crans in 1897. The figures for 

 the fourteen years are as follows : — 



Year. 



Herrings 



Year. 



Herrings 





Caught. 





Caught. 



1901 



. 29,117 crans. 



1908 



4,070 crans. 



1902 



. 26,339 „ 



1909 



. 3,684 



1903 



, 21,198 „ 



1910 



. 10,405 „ 



1904 



. 7,827 „ 



1911 



• 4,672 „ 



1905 



. 4,672 „ 



1912 



. 2,192 „ 



1906 



. 5,258 „ 



1913 



. 3,056 „ 



1907 



. 3,914 „ 



1914 



919 „ 



In tlie Lochfyne herring fishery there have been seasons of scarcity 

 before, but none in which the period continued so long. In the 

 years from 1871-1875, the yield was comparatively small, amounting 

 in 1873 to only 3648 crans, but, as the above table shows, the present 

 depression has not only continued longer, but has been more severe. 



Fluctuations in the herring fishery, especially in fjords or arms of 

 the sea, are of no infrequent occurrence on the coasts of other countries, 

 and have been attributed to various causes, such as changes in the 

 physical conditions of the water, or in the quantity or kind of the 

 minute floating organisms, on which the herring mainly subsists. At 

 a number of places in the loch, a series of temperature observations 

 are made at different levels, and collections of the floating food secured, 

 and it is proposed to continue these investigations until the herrings 

 return to the loch in their former abundance, so that comparison may 

 be instituted between the observations taken in the period of scarcity 

 and those taken in the period of abundance. 



Dr. Johan Hjort, the Director of the fisheries of Norway, recently 

 made an exhaustive inquiry into the fluctuations of the herring fisheries 

 on the Norwegian coast, principally by means of a study of the growth 

 markings on the scales of the fish. He states that in the Norwegian 

 herring fisheries there has been for a number of years a very marked 

 predominance of herrings which were spawned in the year 1904. The 

 herrings of this year-class are said to have formed the bulk of the 

 catches, and it is supposed that when this year-class of herrings 

 dies out there may be a period of scarcity unless and until another 

 year-class becomes abnormally abundant. These conclusions of Dr. 

 Hjort, should they be confirmed, offer a new and important explana- 

 tion of the great annual fluctuation that may take place in the herring 

 fisheries. 



With regard to the observations made in Lochfyne, above men- 

 tioned, since the fishery cruiser stationed in the district cannot be 

 made available for the observations, the practice has been to hire a 

 small yacht when that can be done (in the summer months), but in 

 winter, when yachts are laid up, the observations can only be made by 

 means of a fishing boat, and there are objections to the use of such 

 craft in winter by the scientific stafl^. Under these circumstances the 



