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Part III. — Eighteenth Annual Report 



of which were of large size. Whether or not such cases — which, as has 

 been said, sometimes occur also with drift nets and with trammel nets, 

 lost from weight of fish or stormy weather — tend to prevent herrings 

 from frequenting the same grounds when in shallow water has been 

 much discussed both in this country and abroad, and it is frequently 

 assigned as a cause for their desertion. The loss of trammel nets 

 loaded with fish at Ballantrae Bank has been cited by those opposed to 

 the use of the trammel as a reason of the failure of the fishery there. 

 But the explanation is rot generally accepted. In the instance in Loch 

 Fyne referred to, it was found that the presence of the decaying herring 

 scattered over the bottom was not detrimental to other fishes, for 

 common dabs, long rough dabs, plaice, codling, gunnel, pipe-fishes, and 

 gobies were brought up in the "Garland's" trawl, as well as numerous 

 invertebrates. The occurrence must happen more or less frequently all 

 over Loch Fyne in every season, and yet the herrings have returned in 

 abundance. 



It has been shown that the seine net is adapted to capture quantities 

 of immature herrings that would not be caught by the drift net, and also 

 that it is probable a certain quantity of immature as well as marketable 

 herrings are destroyed by its normal operation in the herring fishery ; 

 and it has to be considered whether these occurrences are likely to be 

 detrimental to the preservation of the supply of herrings from Loch 

 Fyne. The capture of immature fish is incidental to all modes of 

 fishing and can hardly be avoided ; but if it can be clearly shown to 

 occur to such an extent as to cause a permanent diminution of the 

 supply of the marketable individuals, it is right that measures should be 

 taken to deal with it. So far as concerns the herring fishery in Loch 

 Fyne there is sufficient proof that the continued employment of the 

 seine net over a long period has not proved detrimental in this sense. 

 Seine-net fishing has been continuously and legally pursued since 

 1867, and has greatly extended since that time, while the supply of 

 herrings has on the whole increased. According to the figures supplied 

 by the fishery officer of the district the estimated quantity of herrings 

 caught in Loch Fyne during each of the ten years 1889-1898 is as 

 follows : — 



1889.... 



26,249 cwts. 



1894. . . . 



130,721 



cwts. 



1890. . . . 



33,650 cwts. 



1895. . . . 



63,046 



cwts. 



1891. . . . 



51,887 cwts. 



1896. . . . 



64,422 



cwts. 



1892.... 



50,158 cwts. 



1897.... 



183,309 



cwts. 



1893.... 



51,124 cwts. 



1898. . . . 



131,918 



cwts. 





213,068 cwts. 





573,416 



cwts. 



The total catch in the five years 1889-1893 amounted to 213,068 

 cwts., and in the five years 1894-1898 to 573,416 cwts., or much 

 more than double the quantity. The quantity caught in 1897, 

 viz., 183,309 cwts., is said to be the largest for a very long time. During 

 these years, and ever since the repeal of the Trawling Acts in 1867, 

 trawling or seining has been practised on a very large scale in Loch 

 Fyne and the neighbouring waters, and while great fluctuations have 

 occurred in different seasons, the supply has on the whole been fully 

 maintained. Earlier statistics, prepared mostly in connection with the 

 various enquiries which have been held on seining for herrings, show the 



