of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



2G9 



Both the dredgings made by the " Garland " and the examination 

 of the seine nets show that during last season large areas of the Bank 

 were not utilised by the herrings as spawning ground. The deposited 

 spawn was mostly got near and about the south and north-west edges, 

 where Lcminaria was abundant; the central region was practically 

 devoid of spawn. In places where herring spawn exists it may be said 

 that each haul of the seine net necessarily disturbs, and to some extent 

 must destroy, some of it, as it lies on the bottom or attached to the 

 fronds of the sea-weed, since the sole-rope sweeps over the bottom. But 

 it is doubtful if the injury so caused is considerable or of much import- 

 ance. The stones and weeds brought up by the net, whether coated 

 with spawn or not, are thrown back into the sea by the fishermen. The 

 destruction of herring eggs in this way cannot be great, and it is 

 certainly quite insignificant compared with the depredations of pre- 

 dacious fishes, or the loss of eggs involved by the captuie of large 

 numbers of herrings in the act of spawning. At the spawing season at 

 Ballantrae Bank not only are the herrings themselves preyed upon in 

 enormous numbers by cod, saithe, ling, dog-fish, cetaceans, gannets, and 

 other enemies, but their freshly-deposited spawn is also devoured in 

 immense quantities, especially by haddocks, codling, and saithe, as well 

 as by their own species. Haddocks are sometimes taken in large numbers 

 in the seine nets at Ballantrae, and T found their stomachs to be full of 

 herring spawn, frequently mixed with fine gravel, while as much as 1 lb., 

 and even 24 ounces, of spawn has been taken from the stomach of a single 

 cod.* The destruction of spa wn in this way by enemies must, however, be 

 regarded as a normal condition in the life-history of the herring. But 

 there is also an immense loss in the fishing operations. The majority 

 of the herrings taken are captured in the act of spawning, with the ripe 

 eggs and milt running from them, and when a large catch is obtained the 

 quantity of spawn and milt that is emitted in the handling of the fish is 

 very great, and gives the herrings a very unsightly appearance. The boats, 

 nets, and gear, and everything that comes in contact with the mass of 

 fish becomes coated with spawn ; the parts of the quay at which they 

 are landed from the boats may be covered with a layer of spawn half an 

 inch or more in thickness ; and the spawn thus accumulated and dis- 

 charged in the selection and handling of the fish may form considerable 

 ill-smelling heaps. It was this loss of spawn, as well as the capture and 

 disturbance of the spawning shoals, that led to the close-time by which 

 the winter fishing at Ballantrae was put down ; and it caused the Board 

 of British White Herring Fishery many years before that to strongly 

 urge the complete suppression of the fishery. 



The destruction of deposited spawn, and the loss of eggs in the way 

 described, is not peculiar to the seine net. The trammel net must also 

 cause disturbance and loss of deposited spawn while being hauled and 

 set. All the appendages of the net may be coated with fertilised 

 spawn — the sole-rope, the stones used as anchors, and the meshes. So 

 abundant is the deposition that frequently boats anchoring on the 

 Banks, as the seine boats, bring up their anchors whitened with the 

 deposition of eggs ; this occurred also with the anchor of the " Garland." 

 The trammels also cause loss of unfertilised spawn, although not as a 

 rule to the same extent as the seine, because the herrings may remain a 



* The contents of some of the stomachs were weighed and the number of herring eggs 

 calculated. A haddock of between 2 lbs. and 3 lbs. in weight was found to contain more 

 than two ounces of spawn, or nearly the whole of the eggs produced by two adult 

 herrings. In February of 1890 nine tons of haddocks were taken from Ballantrae Bank, 

 which would be equivalent to about 7000 individuals ; and if each of these consumed 

 daily a similar quantity of herring spawn as the one referred to, the spawn of over 

 300,000 herrings, or about 9,000,000,000 eggs, would be destroyed by that number alone 

 in the course of the month or six weeks involved. 



