I 



vi Thirty -eighth Annual Report 



It is now possible to give some particulars of the losses sustained 

 by the Scottish fishing fleet during the war. The number of vessels 

 sunk while following their ordinary occupation was 96, of which 51 

 were trawlers, and the remainder steam drifters or liners, or motor 

 boats. The great majority fell victims to enemy submarines. The 

 worst month was June 1915, when no fewer than 34 fishing vessels 

 were sunk ; the subsequent development of counter-measures, and 

 the stricter regulation of fishing operations obviated a recurrence of 

 losses on the same scale. 



Up to the date of the Armistice 1264 Scottish fishing vessels — 

 302 trawlers, 829 drifters, and 133 motor boats — had been taken over 

 for War Service, chiefly as naval auxiliaries, and of these about 100 

 were lost while on Service. Of the vessels still on Service when hos- 

 tilities ceased, all except 131 had been released by the end of 1919, and 

 the majority had been reconditioned and were again engaged in 

 fishing. 



Total Catch. 



The total quantity of fish landed in Scotland (exclusive of shell 

 fish) during the year under review was, as already stated, 5,968,866 

 cwts., which realised £6,063,739. To this figure has to be added the 

 amount realised for shell fish, viz., £84,206, so that the gross total 

 value of the fisheries was £6,147,945, or £81,357 more than in 1919. 

 This sum is the highest ever recorded, but it is far from being com- 

 mensurate with the great increase in the quantity landed, and if 

 prices at first landing had been maintained at the level of 1918 the 

 increase would have amounted to no less than £4,730,200. 



It was not of course to be expected that the inflated prices which 

 ruled during the war could be maintained, but the reduction from the 

 previous year, attributable chiefly to the abnormal conditions on the 

 Continent and the inadequate facilities for distribution at home, was 

 too pronounced to be altogether salutary, and unless conditions 

 improve it is to be feared that much capital and many men wiU be 

 forced into other spheres of industry, a consummation which, in 

 view of the importance of the fishing industry in the national pohty, 

 would be in the highest degree to be deplored. 



Herring Fishery. 



The quantity of herrings landed in Scotlaujd in 1919 w^s 3,735,486 

 cwts., valued at £2,236,559, these figures representing an increase 

 of 1,673,745 cwts., or 81 per cent, in quantity, but a decrease of 

 £300,551, or 12 per cent, in valiie as compared with 1918. 



The following table shows the results of the Scottish herring 

 fishery during the last ten years : — 



[Table. 



