TH{RTY-F[RST ANNUAL REPORT. 



TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 

 T. M'KINNON WOOD, MP., 



His Majesty^ s Seeretarij for Scotland. 



Fishery Board for Scotland, 

 Edinburgh, 12ih April 1913. 



Sir,— 



In terms of the Act 45 & 46 Vict., c. 78, we, the Fishery Board for 

 Scotland, have the honour to present this our Thirty-first Annual 

 Report, being for the year ended 31st December 1912 : — 



PART I -GENERAL STATEMENT. 



It affords us pleasure to report a year of great success in the sea 

 fishing industry of Scotland. 



The number of vessels engaged in that industry during 1912 was 

 9290, manned by crews amounting in the aggregate to 38,434 persons. 



The fish landed as the result of their operations amounted to 

 8,587,106 cwts. (exclusive of shell-fish), of the value of £3,588,584. 

 The value of the shell-fish landed was £67,594, bringing the total 

 value offish of all kinds up to £3,656,178, or an increase of 75,132 

 cwts. in quantity and of £528,249 in value over the preceding year. 

 This exceeds the previous highest record in value by over half-a- 

 million pounds (£507,051). 



The greater part of this increase was attributable to the herring 

 fishery (164,816 cwts. and £405,199), though there was a substantial 

 increase in the value of the white fishery as well. 



For purposes of comparison, and to show the steady progress of the 

 Scottish fisheries, we give below in summary form the means of cap- 

 ture and the results since 1898. 



Summary of Means of Capture and Result. 



Year. 



1898 

 1899 

 1900 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1904 

 1905 

 1906 

 1907 

 1908 

 1909 

 1910 

 1911 

 1912 



Number 

 of 



Vessels. 



11,576 

 11,245 

 11,275 

 11,201 

 11,097 

 11,008 

 10,891 

 30.581 

 10,554 

 10,365 

 10,078 

 9,889 

 9,724 

 9,543 

 9,290 



Tonnage. 



113,557 

 114,448 

 119,426 

 124,639 

 131,692 

 140,531 

 140,396 

 136,385 

 142,081 

 144,385 

 142,505 

 139,973 

 139,701 

 137,930 

 136,590 



Value of 

 Boats and 

 Gear. 



£ 



2,029,384 

 2,383,776 

 2,711,877 

 3,001,301 

 3,212,455 

 3,448,168 

 3,431,284 

 3,304,695 

 4,117,549 

 4,857,816 

 5,223,149 

 5,291,533 

 5,439,857 

 5,628,087 

 5,777,102 



Total Catch. 



Quantity. 



Cwts. 

 6,558,768 

 5,145,076 

 5,369,265 

 6,385,170 

 6,866,028 

 6,518,808 

 7,947,829 

 7,856,310 

 7,593,369 

 9,018,153 

 8,645,252 

 7,423,185 

 8,709,655 

 8,511,974 

 8,587,106 



Value. 



£ 



1,879,866 

 2,189,933 

 2,325,994 

 2,238,310 

 2,502,668 

 2,401,287 

 2,231,102 

 2,649,148 

 2,977,583 

 3,149,127 

 2,512,162 

 2,889,107 

 3,100,387 

 3,127,929 

 3,656,178 



*Excluding shell-fish, which are sold partly b}' number (f.gf., ojsters) and partly by weight 

 {e.g., mussels), and have no common measure except value, 



