214 



Appendices to Thirty-third Annual Report 



Helm,sdale District. 



In the year 1914 tlie fishermen of Helmsdale district carried on the 

 line, cod-net, and lobster fisheries in local waters in much the same 

 nicinner as in the preceding year. The results of these fisheries were 

 generally unsatisfactory. The returns show when compared with those 

 of the year 1913 a decrease of 2118 cwts. in the total quantity of white 

 fish landed. Owing to higher prices for fish generally, and to an increased 

 catch of crabs and lobsters in 1914, the decrease in the total value of all 

 fish returned foi' the district is not so pronounced, and amounts to only 

 £401. 



The means of capture returns show as compared with those of 1913 

 an increase of 2 in the number of motor boats — a motor engine having 

 l)een installed into a large herring boat belonging to a crew in Dunbeath, 

 and one into a second-class boat for a crew in Brora. The former was 

 a 55 h.p. " Gardner," and the latter a 6 h.p. " Kelvin." These installa- 

 tions cost £600 and £70 respectively. There was also an unimportant 

 increase in the number of second- and third-class sailing boats — princi- 

 pally boats which had been purchased second-hand from other districts. 

 These returns show no other changes of importance. 



The small-Une and hand-line fishings each received during the year 1914 

 more than the usual amount of attention from the fishermen of this dis- 

 trict, but, as a rule, the results were poor, and compared unfavourably 

 with those of the previous year. 



The results of the cod -net fishing which, as usual, was prosecuted in the 

 spring, chiefly by the fishermen of Golspie, show, when compared with 

 those of 1913, a decrease in the quantity, but a slight increase in the 

 value, due, as already indicated, to prices having been higher in 1914 

 than in the previous year. Besides cod, the boats working at this fishing 

 landed 430 cwts. of skate, as against 213 cwts. in 1913. 



Only 2 steam drifters belonging to this district were employed at the 

 winter herring fishing. They met with only moderate success, their 

 gross earnings amounted to £330 and £410 respectively. 



The Dunbeath motor herring boat, referred to above, was employed 

 only at the summer herring fishing. None of her crew was a naval 

 reservist, and they were thus able to continue the fishing until the first 

 week of September. The results were, considering the season, fairly 

 satisfactory. Her gross earnings amounted to £450 and her running 

 expenses to £77 for 14 weeks' fishing. A second-class motor line boat, 

 which belongs to the same owners, was employed in 1914 from 1st January 

 to 1st May at fine and cod-net fishing, and from 21st September to 31st 

 December at line fishing. For the 2 periods her gross earnings amounted 

 to £293, and her running expenses to £20. 



In the winter of 1913-14 a number of the fishermen of Helmsdale and 

 Embo attended navigation classes arranged for by the School Boards of 

 these villages, and at examinations held in the spring they were successful 

 in securing the following Board of Trade certificates of competency : — 

 certificates for extra skippers, 1 ; skippers, 4 ; and second hands, 5. Owing 

 to so many of the young men having been called away to serve in the 

 navy no classes were formed for the winter of 1914. 



In November a young fisherman belonging to Helmsdale lost his life 

 through falling overboard while his boat was lying in Wick harbour. 



Seeing that those connected with the fishing industry in this district 

 depend chiefly, not on the local fisheries, but on the herring fishings on 

 other parts of the coast, the war, which brought the summer herring fishing 

 to a close six or eight weeks earlier than usual, and made it impossible 

 for them to participate in the English fishing (no boats or fishermen from 



