liv 



Thirty -fir St Annual Report 



Year. 



Herrings 

 Caught. 



Year. 



Herrings 

 Caught. 



1901, - 



- 29,117 crans. 



1907, - 



3,914 crans. 



1902, - 



- 26,339 „ 



1908, - 



- 4,070 „ 



1903, - 



- 21,198 „ 



1909, - 



- 3,684 „ 



1904, - 



- 7,827 „ 



1910, - 



- 10,405 ., 



1905, - 



- 4,672 „ 



1911, - 



- 4,672 „ 



1906, - 



- 5,258 „ 



1912, - 



- 2,192 „ 



The catch last year was less than half of the total for 1911, and 

 much under that for 1910, and is, indeed, the lowest recorded in the 

 statistics of the herring fishery in Lochfyne. These statistics go back 

 to the year 1854, and they show that in the 'seventies, and in par- 

 ticular in 1873 and 1874, there was a somewhat similar failure of the 

 fishing, but the depression did not last so long. At that time the 

 annual catch gradually fell from nearly 40,000 crans in 1868 to 3648 

 crans in 1873, and then rose, somewhat unsteadily, to a high catch of 

 55,754 crans in 1882. For comparison with the above table the 

 following figures showing the annual catches in the years referred to 

 are of interest : — 



Year. 



Herrings 

 Caught. 



Year. 



Herrings 

 Caught. 



1870, - 



- 26,909 crans. 



1877, - 



- 19,618 crans. 



1871, - 



- 13,515 „ 



1878, - 



- 8,890 „ 



1872, - 



- 9,057 „ 



1879, - 



- 21,045 „ 



1873, - 



- 3,648 „ 



1880, - 



- 22,768 „ 



1874, - 



- 4,806 „ 



1881, - 



- 32,943 „ 



1875, - 



- 13,546 „ 



1882, - 



- 55,754 „ 



1876, - 



- 22,836 „ 





It is stated in the records that a feature of the fishing in the year 

 1875 was the great abundance of very small herrings in upper Loch- 

 fyne, and small herrings often predominated in the catches in the 

 lower loch also. 



It is not an easy matter to account for such variations in the 

 movements of the shoals of herrings. Fluctuations in the herring 

 fishery, especially in fjords or arms of the sea, are of not unfrequent 

 occurrence on the coasts of other countries, and have been attributed 

 to various causes, but none of the explanations put forward to account 

 for them has been generally accepted. Variations in the physical 

 conditions of the water, or in the quantity or kind of the minute float- 

 ing organisms on which the herring mainly subsists, are believed by 

 many to be the main cause, and since 1904 periodical observations 

 have been carried on in Lochfyne with the object of ascertaining 

 whether this is the correct explanation. At a number of places in 

 the loch a series of temperature observations are made at difierent 

 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 inistituted 

 between the observations taken in the period of bcarciby and those 

 taken in the period of abundancs. 



