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Part III. — Eighteenth Annual Report 



of hauling and setting the net. It is a common occurrence to find the 

 stones used for anchoring the nets, the ropes, and even the meshes of 

 the net, covered with spawn deposited upon them while lying at the 

 bottom. 



Loch Fyne. 



The great herring fishing in Loch Fyne extends from the beginning 

 of June to the close of the year, and is carried on by a large 

 number of drift-net and seine-net boats. By far the greater part 

 of the herrings caught are sold at sea to the carrying steamers 

 which frequent the fishing grounds and take the fish for the 

 most part to Glasgow for the early markets. The investigations in 

 Loch Fyne were carried on in the months of June, July, August, Sep- 

 tember, October, and December during the seasons of 1897 and 1898. 

 The principal points of the enquiry concerned the alleged wasteful destruc- 

 tion by the seine of small immature herrings and of herring spawn. 

 When the " Garland " was in Loch Fyne the seine boats were boarded 

 at various parts of the loch when they were hauling their nets or had 

 just hauled them, and the catches examined and sampled ; and by going 

 on board the carrying steamers when the boats were transferring their 

 catches at night or in the early morning. When the " Garland " was 

 not available the night was spent on the steam carriers, and the herring 

 boats visited by means of the buyer's boat, the catches being examined 

 and sampled. On other occasions part or all of the night was spent on 

 board the fishing boats. In the course of the enquiry the catches of 

 many hundreds of boats, amounting to several thousand boxes and some 

 millions of fish, were thus examined, special attention being paid to the 

 presence of young immature herrings among them. The samples taken 

 were measured, and the condition of the reproductive organs and the 

 nature of the food in the stomachs ascertained. 



The successive shoals of herrings which enter Loch Fyne are attracted 

 thither by the wealth of the pelagic food which exists there in the 

 summer, and from which they derive their peculiar excellence. It was 

 found that the herrings, especially in the earlier part of the season, fed 

 for the most part on copepoda, almost exclusively on Calanus 

 finma?xhicus, which is rich in oil and extremely abundant ; and later, on 

 the schizopod crustacean JVyctiphanes norvegica, and also on the young 

 of their own species, which sometimes form a considerable part of their 

 food. In some hauls twelve per cent., or more, of the stomachs of the 

 larger herrings examined contained young herrings ranging from 

 1| inches to 2^ inches in length, and numbering in a given stomach 

 from one to six. Young herrings of the sizes indicated, as well as larger 

 individuals, were also found in the stomachs of bottom white fish 

 caught in the beam-trawl net of the " Garland " in Loch Fyne, e.g. in 

 saithe, codling, gurnards, and long rough dabs. Such young herrings 

 were also found in the stomachs of mackerel caught in the herring nets. 

 The loch is thus undoubtedly frequented by shoals of quite small 

 herrings, such as are stated to be sometimes caught and destroyed by 

 the seine net, and it was proved that they may be found at the bottom, 

 as well as at the surface, to depths of at least 7 4 fathoms. Evidence of 

 the erratic movements of the shoals in connection with their food supply 

 was also obtained. It was sometimes found that almost all the herrings 

 which were examined from one and the same haul had no food in their 

 stomachs ; in other cases in the same neighbourhood the opposite 

 occurred, almost all the herrings examined from a haul containing food. 

 In one of these cases where the herrings were caught near the surface 



