of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xix 



creasing proportion of the total catch landed by power-driven vessels 

 In 1912, however, the breezy weather enabled the sailers to compete 

 for a time on equal terms with their power-driven competitors, and 

 this transition was retarded, although not entirely checked. The 

 following table shows the position of matters at a glance : — 



Table si lo wing the Percentage of the Total Catch of Herrings 

 obtamed by Steam, Motor, and Sailing Boats respectively in 

 each year since 1906 : — 



Year. 



Steam Vessels. 



Motor Vessels. 



Sailing Vessels. 



Percentage. 



Percentage. 



Percentage. 



1906 



31 





69 



1907 



44 





56 



1908 



50 





50 



1909 



54 





46 



1910 



56 



4 



40 



1911 



59 



5 



36 



1912 



60-4 



6-2 



33-4 



In last year's report reference was made to a question which 

 was greatly exercising drift-net fishermen, viz., steam-trawling for 

 herrings. Drifters are apprehensive that this method of fishing 

 may ultimately injure their industry, and although the quantity so 

 taken and landed in Scotland in 1912 was very small— 5714 cwts., 

 as against 17,709 cwts. in 1911 — this by no means served to allay 

 their apprehensions, inasmuch as the new method was prosecuted 

 with greater vigour than ever from the English trawling ports. 



To sum up, it may be affirmed without hesitation that the year 

 1912 was the most prosperous on record for all connected with the 

 herring-fishing industry. In making this statement regard is, of 

 course, had to the operations of the Scottish contingent at the 

 English herring fishing, the success or failure of which now so vitally 

 affects the prosperity of Scottish fishermen. Fishermen made higher 

 earnings than ever before, while, what is not always the case in a 

 "fishermen's year," curers in most cases also did excellently well. 

 And, owing to the unprecedentedly heavy landings in East Anglia, 

 workers in the gutting, coopering, and other occupations ancillary to 

 herring fishing could, equally with the fishermen, congratulate them- 

 selves at the close of the season on a most lucrative year's work. 



Winter Herring Fishing. 



The winter herring fishing, which covers the first quarter of the 

 year, was again a failure, the decline which has been in progress for 

 some years having been barely arrested. The total quantity landed 

 amounted to 247,313 cwts., which realised £64,195, or 461 cwts. and 

 £2567 more than in 1911. At only one of the three recognised centres 

 of this fishing — the Firth of Forth — was any improvement manifested, 

 and there only to the extent of 3605 cwts., or 6 per cent. At the other 

 two, matters went from bad to worse, the Stornoway catch receding 

 from 65,000 cwts. to 59,000 cwts., and that at Wick from 3717 cwts. 

 to 2091 cwts. Nor did the stations which have in recent years helped 



