xxiv 



Thirty-eighth Annual Report 



reported a good appearance of herrings of small size in upper Lochfyne, 

 and the hope was expressed that the presence of great numbers of 

 small herrings so far up the loch at the close of the year was an 

 indication that the shoals were about to return. 



It is satisfactory to be able to report that this expectation was 

 fulfilled. For the first time for many years, the herring shoals returned 

 to the loch last year in considerable numbers. 



As stated in previous Reports, the Lochfyne herring fishery began 

 to decline in a marked manner in 1904, and from that year until 1918 

 the quantity of herrings taken annually from the loch was very much 

 below the average of former years. In the fifteen years comprised in 

 this period, as wiU be seen from the subjoined Table, the largest 

 quantity obtained in any year was 36,417 cwts., in 1910. On the other 

 hand, only a few thousand cwts. were secured in 1912, 1914, 1916, 

 and 1918, while in 1917 only 899 cwts. were taken. 





Herrings 





Herrings 



Year. 



caught. 



Year. 



caught. 



1900 . 



86,600 cwts. 



1910 . 



36,417 cwts. 



1901 . 



. 101,909 „ 



1911 . 



16,352 „ 



1902 . 



. 92,186 „ 



1912 . 



7,672 „ 



1903 . 



74,193 „ 



1913 . 



10,696 „ 



1904 . 



27,394 „ 



1914 . 



3,216 „ 



1905 . 



16,352 „ 



1915 . 



13,399 „ 



1906 . 



18,403 „ 



1916 . 



2,576 „ 



1907 . 



13,699 „ 



1917 . 



899 „ 



1908 . 



14,245 „ 



1918 . 



5,763 „ 



1909 . 



12,894 „ 



1919 . 



41,973 „ 



In 1919, the catch amounted to 41,973 cwts., which, although much 

 larger than in any year since 1903, is less than half the quantity taken 

 in 1902. The catch in each of the months of 1919 was as follows : — 



January 



22 cwts. 



July . 



6,022 cwtJ 



February 



94 „ 



August 



2,139 „ 



March 



255 „ 



September . 



4,742 „ 



April . 



39 „ 



October 



10,539 „ 



May . 



33 „ 



November . 



9,114 „ 



June . 



1,820 „ 



December . 



7,154 „ 



It will be seen that the quantity taken increased towards the end 

 of the year, although it was considerable in July, and it may be added 

 that in January 1920, 10,213 cwts. were landed. It is to be hoped 

 that the increase last year is the prelude to the return of the herring 

 shoals to Lochfyne in their former abundance. 



Sufficient information is not yet available in regard to the tempera- 

 tures and plankton to bring the variations in these factors into re- 

 lation with the catches of herring in the different years. There were 

 no serial observations in the years preceding 1904, which might be 

 compared with the observations made in the years when herrings 

 were present in such small numbers. The observations are now being 

 continued, so that data will be available for last year and the next 

 year or two, for comparison with the observations of tlie previous 

 fifteen years. It will then be possible to show whether any variation 

 in temperature or in the abtmdance of plankton can be correlated 

 with the presence or absence of the herring shoals. 



