57 Appendices to Thirty-eighth Annual Report 



From tlie month of Marcli to the beginning of Jmie the herring fishing 

 was slack in the district, and a number of the Loch Fyne crews worked with 

 a fair amount of success at cod-net fishing. 



From June until the end of the year shoals of herrings were located in 

 Loch Fyne, and except in the month of August, which was slack, heavy 

 catches were netted. The shoals were said to be the heaviest encountered 

 in Loch Fyne for a long time. Unfortunately the herrings were of very 

 poor quality, and much difficulty was experienced in marketing the fish. 

 The herrings were of the same class as those caught in the Kyles of Bute 

 during the earlier months of the year, but with the advent of the East 

 Coast fishing, increased supplies of herrings were placed on the home 

 markets, and there was little demand for the inferior fish caught in the 

 local waters. 



The principal market of the local fishermen is, of course, the buying 

 steamers which carry the fish straight from the grounds to the railheads 

 for Glasgow market, and during the year these steamers often left the fish- 

 ing grounds early with a limited supply. The result of this was that the 

 crews who had not been able to dispose of their catches before the steamers 

 left the grounds had to make for Rothesay, Fairlie, and other Ayrshire 

 ports. On arriving at these ports the fishermen had on several occasions 

 to send their catches to market themselves, as no buyers could be found to 

 handle the fish. This procedure seldom paid the fishermen, and in a 

 number of cases the fish so despatched failed to realise sufficient to cover 

 the expenses of transit. 



The quality remained poor throughout the season, and low prices were 

 experienced until the end of the East Anglian season, when an additional 

 number of buyers came to Rothesay for supplies for the English markets. 



Transport facilities, apart from the buying steamers, are very limited 

 in these districts, and unsuitable for " freshing," but if a better class of 

 fish were being landed, there is no doubt that the buying steamers would 

 be able to cope with practically the whole catch. 



A fleet of 68 motor boats was engaged at the herring fishing during the 

 year, and their average net earnings are estimated at about £470 per boat, 

 which means a very insufficient wage for the fishermen employed. 



During the year 811 barrels of herrings were cured gutted at Tarbert and 

 Ardrishaig for home markets, and 46 crans were kippered and disposed 

 of locally. 



Mackerel were more plentiful than in 1918, but the prices realised were 

 lower, the average price for the year for this class of fish being 37s. 3d. per 

 cran, as compared with 58s. lid. per cran in 1918. 



Only a few crews tried line fishing during the period when herring 

 fishing was slack, and the results were similar to those of the preceding 

 year. 



Lobster fishing was confined to the creeks of Luing and Grin an, and the 

 results show a gratifying increase as compared with 1918. 



No lives were lost in connection with the fisheries during the year. 

 The damage to gear was confined chiefly to seine nets. The large shoals 

 encountered in the Kyles and in Loch Fjme often proved too much for 

 the nets, and a burst net with a few baskets of meshed herrings was some- 

 times the only result of " ringing " a heavy shoal. 



There was no abnormal loss of or damage to gear in connection with the 

 lobster fisheries. 



George M'Gee, 

 Fishery Officer, 



Fishery Office, 

 Campbeltown, 27th January 1920. 



