xxii 



Thirtieth Annual Report 



Trawling for herrings is carried on in daylight, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 

 and it is stated that the best catches are- secured about mid-day. 

 Trawling during the night has never been successful, as the herrings, 

 it is said, rise to the surface with the setting in of darkness. When 

 trawling, the vessels steam at full power, and the fastest steamers have 

 proved the most successful. In ordinary trawling for white fish the 

 vessels steam at from half to full speed, but usually about three-quarter 

 speed. The drags are usually of from 2 to 4 hours' duration, except 

 when a shoal" is encountered, when the drags are limited to from \ to 

 one hour. 



When this method of capturing herrings was first adopted, the 

 grounds operated upon were those stretching from Barra Head south- 

 wards to the island of Inistrahull, on the N.W. coast of Ireland. 

 The greater part of the fleet engaged was always composed of 

 Milforcl Haven and Fleetwood trawlers, and prior to 1908 few Scottish 

 trawlers had taken part in this fishing. Stimulated, however, by the 

 success achieved by their English confreres, several Scottish trawlers 

 in that year tried the new method and met with a considerable 

 measure of success. This led in the following year to the fitting out 

 at Aberdeen of a fleet of 21 vessels, but the fishing proved a complete 

 failure. Nor were their operations in 1910 attended with any greater 

 success. The failure of the fishing in 1909 and 1910 was ascribed by 

 those engaged to the pollution of the fishing grounds by dead saithe 

 (which were taken in considerable quantities along with the herrings) 

 thrown overboard from the English vessels, which merely retained the 

 livers of these fish and returned the carcases to the sea. Since then, 

 however, a demand has been created at Milford Haven and Fleetwood 

 for saithe, these fish being now salted and cured for foreign 

 markets. 



The herrings taken on the western grounds were captured in from 

 70 to 100 fathoms of water, with a soft bottom. They were of very 

 large size, running from 600 to 650 fish to the cran, and realised on 

 an average about 30s. per cran, or about ^-d. per fish. They were 

 used chiefly for " redding " and kippering, the reds being packed in 

 small barrels and despatched via Liverpool to the Mediterranean 

 markets, while the kippers were placed upon the home markets, 

 although, owing to their large size and high price, retailers 

 found considerable difficulty in disposing of them. In regard to 

 quality, they were the same as those which ordinarily come from 

 Downings Bay. They would appear to spend the autumn and winter 

 months within an area whose outer limit is a line drawn from Barra 

 Head to Downings Bay, and are a typical Atlantic herring. 



With the failure of herring trawling on the western grounds, as 

 stated above, there seemed little likelihood of its again being tried this 

 year, until, in September last, an Aberdeen trawler landed a shot of 

 60 crans of herrings taken in the North Sea, 120 miles N.E. of 

 Aberdeen. This immediately revived interest in the venture, more 

 particularly as the North Sea was a virgin field, in so far as trawling 

 for herrings was concerned, and in a short time 22 vessels were at work, 

 some with ordinary trawl nets, and others with the special herring 

 otter trawl net. The results were, however, in many cases so poor 

 that a number of vessels abandoned the venture as unremunerative 

 after one or two voyages, and only some 10 or 12 vessels continued to 



