35 Appendices to Thirty-eighth Annual Report 



supplies of mussels for bait, and during the summer montlis fishermen 

 found it expedient, owing to low prices, to restrict landings to some 

 extent. During the year prices for haddocks ranged from £5 down to 

 10s. per cwt., the average being 38s. 6d. against 56s. during the previous 

 year. A largely increased quantity of haddocks was smoked during the 

 year, several small kilns being erected in the district. 



Boat builders were kept fully employed, but the output of fishing 

 vessels amounted to only 8 motor boats, and 1 steam drifter built at 

 Lossiemouth to the order of the Admiralty. Barrel-making was conducted 

 on a very small scale, coopers being employed chiefly at fishing stations. 



In August, a Nairn fisherman was lost off Fraserburgh, through 

 falling overboard. 



One steam drifter was wrecked at the harbour entrance at Lossie- 

 mouth during the cod-fishing season, and 2 motor boats were wrecked 

 in the harbour during a severe storm towards the close of the year. A 

 considerable loss of netting was experienced by a number of crews who 

 took part in the English fishing. 



Of 127 district vessels in the employment of the Admiralty at the 

 date of the armistice, 76 resumed fishing during the course of the year, 

 the remainder having yet to undergo reconditioning. 



William Sinclair, 

 Fishery Officer. 



Fishery Office, 

 Lossiemouth, 16^^ January 1920. 



Cromarty District. 



The number of district fishermen employed during the year imder 

 review shows an increase of 86 as compared with the number employed 

 during the previous year, and while line fishing was prosecuted from most 

 of the creeks with fair results, the majority of the fishermen confined their 

 attention to drift-net fishing, which proved so highly remunerative during 

 the previous year. 



The small herring and sprat fishing in the Inverness and Beauly Firths, 

 which had been prosecuted continuously during the last four months of .1918, 

 was continued during the year imder review, and during January the 

 average earnings of the district crews employed amounted to £700 per 

 crew of five men. Prices for herrings during this period ranged from 

 £5 to £6, 6s. per cran. 



Operations were continued during February and March by a number 

 of crews, but although prices continued high, the catches were light. 



The fishing was resumed in September, and the number of district 

 crews gradually rose to 45, against 30 during the previous year. 



Both herrings and sprats appeared to be abundant, but owing to the 

 poor demand in the southern markets, fishermen frequently experienced 

 considerable difficulty in disposing of their catches, which resulted in their 

 arranging to restrict landings to a maximum of nine crans per boat daily. 

 This arrangement was duly carried out for the remainder of the year, 

 even when prices rose as high as 50s. per cran. 



While the average price realised during January was £5, 17s. per cran, 

 the average price for the last four months of the year was 20s., and the 

 general range of earnings for the latter period from £200 to £400 per crew. 



The quantity of line fish landed shows an increase of 1932 cwts., but 

 the value was £1469 less than in the previous year. Haddocks accounted 

 for fully seventy per cent, of the line fish landed, and realised on an average 

 .9s. per cwt. less than during the previous year. 



