of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xxxi 



(d) SHELL-FISH. 



The shell-fish fisheries were prosecuted with slightly better results 

 than in 1911, the total value, which was £67,594, exceeding that of 

 the preceding year by £239. Towards this total the East Coast con- 

 tributed 37 per cent., Orkney and Shetland 8 per cent., and the West 

 Coast 55 per cent., as compared with 39 per cent., 8 percent., and 53 

 per cent, respectively in 1911, the West Coast thus having regained, 

 at the expense of the East Coast, the ground lost in the preceding 

 year. 



Lobsters. 



The number of these valuable crustaceans landed in 1912 was 

 646,566, or 4598 more than in 1911, although, owing to a slight fall 

 in prices, the increase in value was not commensurate with that in 

 quantity, being only £76, which brought the value for 1912 up to 

 £32,177. The drop in prices was confined to the East Coast. 



Crabs. 



The crab-fishing was not so successful as in 1911, the catch of 

 21,361 hundreds being less than that of the preceding year by 2212 

 hundreds, while there was a corresponding decrease in the value, which 

 amounted to £13,704, of £946. The greater part of the decrease in 

 quantity, and the whole of the decrease in value, occurred on the East 

 Coast. 



Oysters. 



There was a further increase in the output of oysters, which 

 amounted to 13,278 hundreds, as against 11,540 hundreds in 1911. 

 The increase was wholly referable to the Loch Ryan beds, which, under 

 the careful attention bestowed upon them, are in a very flourishing 

 condition, and in 1912 yielded a larger crop than ever before. The 

 beds elsewhere in Scotland continue to diminish in productiveness, 

 the output of the Loch Tarbert beds (8600) being less than half that 

 of 1911, while from the once famous Firth of Forth beds no oysters at 

 all were landed during the year under review. The value of the 

 catch was £4669, or £594 more than in 1911. 



Mussels. 



The total quantity of mussels gathered in 1912 was 99,754 cwts., 

 valued at £5334, as compared with 103,217 cwts. and £5066 in the 

 preceding year. The falling ofi* was largely confined to the beds in 

 the neighbourhood of Findhorn and Cromarty, as the output in other 

 districts was well maintained, that of the Clyde beds, indeed, showing 

 a substantial increase. The decrease in quantity was accompanied by 

 a rise in prices, with the result that the value (£5334) surpassed that 

 of preceding year's catch by £268. 



