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Part III. — Eighteenth Annual Report 



it was usually £2 10s., and in one year (1881) it was £2 12s. per cran. 

 In 1886 it had sunk to £1 Is. per cran ; in 1890 to 12s. 6d., in 1896 to 

 5s., and in 1899 it was 7s. 3d. ; in only one year since 1890 has the 

 price reached £1 per cran — namely, in 1895. The decline in the price 

 is not, however, chiefly due to the quantity of small herrings landed 

 but to other causes regulating the markets, and principally the develop- 

 ment of the winter fishery at other parts of the coast, and the impor- 

 tation of Norwegian herrings. 



It is difficult to decide whether or not the extensive use of the seine 

 net has produced detrimental effects on the fishery. It is contended that 

 the great catches in nearly all the years from 1878 to 1885, when the 

 seine net was so largely used, were excessive, and that the shoals of 

 herrings which habitually frequented the spawning ground were either 

 depleted, or so disturbed that they abandoned the Bank, and went else- 

 where to spawn. The failure may, on the other hand, be due merely to 

 natural fluctuations, the causes of which are obscure, but which at all 

 events profoundly affect the herring fishery in many localities. Many 

 cases might be cited in which the herrings deserted a favourite ground 

 for years without apparent cause, and as suddenly reappeared. On a 

 former occasion, namely in 1855, the herrings abandoned Ballantrae 

 Bank, and did not return until 1862. Their disappearance then was 

 also attributed by the trammel-net fishermen to the use of the seine 

 net, not at the Bank itself in February and March, but on the northern 

 coast of Ayrshire in December, when the shoals were making their way 

 to the spawning ground. The other classes of fishermen held that it 

 was caused by the excessive use of the trammel net, by which very 

 large numbers of spawning herrings were captured and much spawn 

 destroyed.* 



With regard to the capture of small or immature herrings, there is 

 no doubt that the seine net takes far greater quantities than the 

 trammel net does; in this respect the trammel is comparable to the 

 drift net. In seasons when small herrings abound very large quantities 

 have been landed, and in some years have been found unsaleable and 

 used for manure. Sometimes the catch of the seine boats consists of 

 herrings as large and fine as those got by the trammels, but as a rule 

 there is a considerable admixture of inferior fish. If the net is torn on 

 the bottom, which is not an infrequent occurrence, or if a larger 

 quantity is enclosed than the boats can well carry, and part is allowed to 

 escape, the proportion of small herrings in the catch may be increased, 

 inasmuch as large numbers of them are meshed. Herrings of seven to 

 eight or eight and a half inches are not uncommon in the catches of the 

 seine net. It was found, however, that herrings of comparatively small 

 size may be sexually mature and propagating at Ballantrae Bank. 

 Specimens, both male and female, not more than eight inches in length, 

 were occasionally found to be spawning or spent ; and many between 

 eight and nine inches were in the same condition. The majority at 

 these sizes were, however, not ripe ; and many of them were found to 

 have been feeding on the deposited herring spawn. The question of 

 the pollution of the ground by dead herrings has also been raised in 

 connection with this fishery, but it is probable that the seine-net boats 

 are not chiefly responsible for the presence of dead herrings on the 

 Bank. There is no doubt that, as in Loch Fyne, dead herrings fall 

 upon the ground in the operations of the seine, and much more here 

 owing to the not uncommon tearing of the net by catching on the 

 bottom. But the same thing occurs, and probably to a greater extent, 



* Report of Playfair Commission, p. 16. Report Royal Commission, vol. ii., p. 1189, 

 1190. 



