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Part III. — Eighteenth Annual Report 



Scotland, we are of opinion that (except in a certain specified locality 

 and as a measure of police) no justification whatever exists for the 

 suppression of that method of taking herrings. There is no evidence 

 that, when properly practised, it is a wasteful mode of fishing ; while 

 there is abundant proof that it affords a most plentiful supply of whole- 

 some fresh fish ; and that, under certain circumstances of season and 

 weather, the fish thus obtained are not to be captured by other modes 

 of fishing."* They recommend, inter alia, that all Acts of Parliament 

 "which professed to regulate or restrict the modes of fishing pursued 

 inshore, should be repealed ; with the exceptions, purely on grounds of 

 police*, of the local Act regulating pilchard fishing at St. Ives; and, for 

 that part of Loch Fyne which lies above Otter Spit, of the Act prohibi- 

 ting trawling for herrings in Scotland. "t 



Effect was soon given to the recommendations of the Commission. 

 The Acts against seine-trawling had been consistently enforced by the 

 Board of Fisheries since 1860; and in their Report for 1866 they 

 state that this enforcement had " given rise to a great change of 

 opinion as to the necessity for continuing to maintain that prohibition," 

 and that, owing to " the unsatisfactory nature of the results produced 

 upon the fishery by their enforcement," and the enquiry held as to their 

 operation, the Government had submitted a Bill to Parliament 

 removing all prohibitions against the use of the seine or herring trawl 

 net. J The Act referred to was passed in 1867,§ and the seine-net 

 which had been under legal prohibition since 1851 was again at once 

 employed in Loch Fyne and adjacent waters. " Its restoration," the 

 Board of Fisheries reported, " was received with satisfaction as well 

 by the fishermen of the Upper Loch as of the Lower." Many of the 

 fishermen began to use tlfe drift net or the seine net according as 

 circumstances rendered the one or the other of them the most 

 profitable; and " instead of those bitter hostilities which the suppression 

 of the seine had created, and which had, in former years, on different 

 occasions, led to confusion, riot, and bloodshed, the fishing this past 

 season was pursued in an orderly and quiet manner, and with very 

 marked success." || This harmony prevailed so long as the herrings 

 were abundant and the fishing successful ; but in seasons when the 

 fishing was poor, complaints were again made against the use of the 

 seine net.^f 



In 1877, representations having been made to the Government as 

 to the unsatisfactory state of the Scottish herring fishery, another 

 Commission was appointed by the Home Secretary, "to ascertain 

 whether any legislative regulations would tend to promote the welfare 

 of the fishermen engaged in the said fishery, and to increase the 

 supply of herrings for the benefit of the public." The Commissioners 



* Ibid. ciii. 

 f Ibid. evi. 



X Report of Commissioners, 1866, p. 5. 



§ 30 & 31 Vict. c. 52. An Act to alter and amend the Acts relating to the British 

 White Herring Fishery, 1867. Section I. "From and after the passing of this Act, 

 notwithstanding anything in the recited Acts, or any of them to the contrary, it Shall he- 

 lawful to fish for and take herrings and herring fry at all places on the coasts of Scotland, 

 in any manner of way, and by means of any kind of net having meshes of a size 

 not less than that now permitted or required by law, and to sell, buy, or have in 

 possession herrings or herring fry so fished for and taken ; and in lieu of the larger 

 penalties imposed by the recited Acts, or any of them, upon persons using nets havino- 

 meshes of a size less than that now permitted or required by law, shall for every such 

 offence be liable in a penalty of not less than five pounds, and not exceeding twenty 

 pounds, together with the forfeiture of the net." By the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868, the 

 sections in the Acts of 1851, 1860, and 1861, affecting seine-net fishing, were repealed, 



|| Report for 1867, p. 5. 



•filhid. 1868, p. 4 ; 1871, p. 4 ; 1874, p. 5; 1875, p. 3. 



