of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



249 



were Mr. Frank Buckland, Mr. (now Sir) Spencer Walpole, and Mr. 

 Archibald Young. The herring fishing in Loch Fyne had greatly fallen 

 oil' in the years 1872-1875, averaging in that period only 9889 

 barrels, against an average of 34,655 barrels for the preceding four 

 years, 1868-1871, the catch in 1874 amounting to only 6934 barrels. 

 The drift-net fishermen of Loch Fyne accordingly petitioned that the 

 use of the seine net in the herring fishery should be prohibited at 

 all times and places within a line drawn between the Mull of Gallo- 

 way and the Mull of Cantyre ; and much evidence for and against 

 that mode of fishing was brought forward. The Commission came to 

 the same conclusion as the previous Commissions of 1856, 1862, and 

 1863. "We think, then," they said, "that trawling involves little, if 

 any, more waste than drift-net fishing ; that trawl fishermen are not 

 much more noisy than drift-net fishermen;* and we hesitate to 

 recommend the Legislature to put down a mode of fishing which is 

 admittedly economical, for the sake of securing an indefinite object 

 which is by no means certain of attainment. "t But, like the previous 

 Commissions, they recommended that, " as a mere matter of police, 

 it is desirable to prohibit the use of trawl nets (seine nets) in Loch 

 Fyne a.bove Otter Spit, and to give the Secretary of State the power 

 to prohibit the use of trawl nets in other narrow waters less than 

 one mile wide." J 



The question of the herring-seine was again brought before the 

 Committee of the House of Commons appointed in 1893 to consider 

 the expediency of adopting measures for the improvement of the Sea 

 Fisheries. § The Committee did not make any specific recommendation, 

 but in the Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act of 1895, || power 

 was given to the Fishery Board, by bye-law or bye- laws, to prohibit 

 seine trawling in any area or areas within the limits specified in 

 Section 6 of the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act, 1889, or in the 

 schedule annexed to that section. Anyone contravening such bye-law 

 is made liable to a fine, and every net so set, or attempted to be set, 

 may be seized and forfeited. The powers conferred by this Act do not 

 provide the same facilities for suppressing this mode of fishing as were 

 furnished by the abortive Acts of 1851 and 1860, both of which were 

 found to be unworkable. 5[ The power of seizing nets was proved to be 

 ineffective in Lochfyne at least. 



In 1893, owing to complaints by Ayrshire fishermen that the use 

 of the seine net was injurious to the herring fishery at Ballantrae 

 Bank, an enquiry was held at Girvan by Mr Esslemont, the late Chair- 

 man of the Fishery Board, and it was arranged that an investigation 

 should be made as to the action of the seine net on that spawning 

 ground. As already stated, the fishing in each year, until last year, 

 was a failure, and the investigation could not be made. More 

 recently complaints were made by the drift-net fishermen of Loch Fyne 

 that seine -trawling was proving detrimental to the herring fishery there, 

 and the two areas have been investigated together. 



The Methods of Fishing. 

 The modes by which the herring-fishing is carried on in the Clyde are 

 three in number, namely — by the drift net, the seine net, and the set or 



* The noise made by the seiners when working was alleged to frighten away the 

 herrings. 



f Report on the Herring-Fisheries of Scotland, xxxii. (1878). 

 t Ibid, 



§ Report of Committee, p. 319. 

 || 58 & 59 Vict. c. 42. s. 9. 

 H Vide p. 245. 



