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Part III. — Seventh Animal Report 



plentiful nor the beds in better condition than at present. The beds have 

 not always been in this prosperous condition, although the fishermen have 

 never been without bait for their lines. Some few years ago, clams were 

 scarcer, and, it is alleged, great harm was done to the beds by the indis- 

 criminate trawling that took place in the Firth. But the beds have com- 

 pletely recovered, or as one man says, * are beginning to recover,' since the 

 prohibition of trawling inside of the waters of the Firth. The fishermen 

 of Prestonpans, Cockenzie, and Port Seton say that if trawling had been 

 continued they would have had to give up the fishing altogether, as their 

 supplies of bait would be gone, and the fish would be driven from the 

 fishing grounds. These beds have afforded the fishermen rich supplies for 

 several decades at least, and with protection and under wise regulations, 

 either mutually observed by the fishermen or enforced under the supervision 

 of the fishery authorities, they are likely to become even more prolific in 

 the future. There is no reason why these beds should not supply all the 

 fishermen of the south-east coast of Scotland with bait during the colder 

 months of the year, so far, at least, as the quantities of clams present on 

 them are concerned. 



How to maintain their productiveness and prevent their depletion is a 

 subject which ought to be considered before they are harmed as the beds 

 of the West Coast have been. Some may doubt whether it is possible to 

 fish out the scallops from this area, but one need only point to the very 

 valuable beds that surrounded the north and eastern parts of the island 

 of Arran as a case in point. Thirty or forty years ago one friend tells me 

 that he could get a barrelful of clams in Lamlash Bay in a few hauls of a 

 small dredge; Mr Alexander Somerville, B.Sc, F.L.S., writes that at 

 Catacol, in 1856, in a single haul in a quarter of an hour he dredged a large 

 quantity for the table, and that the fishermen at Lochranza were able to get 

 as many as 500 or 600 in one dredgeful; Mr William Young writes me he 

 could have filled a boat in a short time off the Cock of Arran. In Brodick 

 Bay large hauls could be taken in one day, but now they are scarce. 

 These beds were destroyed by carelessness and overfishing. No physical 

 changes have taken place within the last thirty or forty years that can 

 account for the comparative scarcity of scallops in these and other locali- 

 ties in the west where they were formerly very abundant, but the want 

 of proper regulation and supervision by a duly constituted and enlightened 

 authority, permitted wholesale destruction of most valuable beds. What, 

 therefore, has been done on the West Coast will be repeated in the Forth, 

 unless a proper amount of foresight and a due appreciation of the de- 

 siderata for molluscan breeding ward off such a calamity. 



Can the Forth clam beds afford any means of relief to those districts in 

 Scotland where the fishing population can only obtain bait by the expendi- 

 ture of large sums in the buying of mussels and in freight 1 Is it possible 

 to bring the clam nearer to the fishermen in these districts 1 That the Forth 

 beds may be further utilised seems likely, when we remember that in 1885 

 the quantities dredged were less than in 1886 when 9100 cwts. were landed 

 as against 17,394 cwts. in 1887, and 20,974 cwts. in 1888. In order to 

 maintain the productiveness of the beds, regular dredging will promote 

 the prosperity of the bed rather than harm it, provided all the clams under 

 a standard size are returned at once to the sea, along with these associated 

 forms that are helpful to the clam, and provided its well-known enemies are 

 killed and retained in the boat, and provided also the dredging is conducted 

 in such a way that no particular part is depleted by over-dredging. Not 

 only may the productiveness be maintained, so as to ensure the gradual 

 expansion of the clam-bearing area, but, with special precautions, it may 

 be possible to transplant clams from the bed to other localities as a nucleus 



