of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xxv 



Unfortunately for curers and buyers, however, the new markets 

 proved quite inadequate to absorb the immense quantities of herrings 

 sent over, and, as the fish, owing to their tender nature, cannot be 

 cured to keep for any length of time without deteriorating, thousands 

 of barrels went bad, with the result that the Continental importers, 

 and, in a less degree, curers, incurred very heavy losses over their 

 transactions. 



Notwithstanding the experience of 1910, fishermen in 1911 began 

 operations earlier than ever, and thousands of crans were landed 

 during the first fortnight of May. Warned, however, by their losses 

 in 1910, che Continental buyers refused to have anything to do with 

 these early fish. In these circumstances, curers naturally declined to 

 purchase, with the result that, once the limited demand for kippering 

 and " freshing " purposes had been satisfied, a glut of herrings ensued. 

 Prices fell in consequence to as low as Is. per cran, while thousands of 

 crans had to be sold as manure or returned to the sea. This brought 

 home to the fishermen the folly of the course they were pursuing, and 

 a voluntary close time was accordingly agreed upon at the majority of 

 the fishing centres. This close time was, however, observed only for 

 a week or ten days, and for some time after the resumption of 

 operations matters were slow to improve, and it was not until June, 

 when the fishing rapidly fell away, that the much-desired improvement 

 occurred, and prices rose to a remunerative level. 



The effect of the conditions which obtained in May is seen in the 

 diminished catch as compared with the preceding year's figures, the 

 combined catch on the East Coast and in Orkney and Shetland 

 amounting to 1,747,000 cwts., falling short of that of 1910 by 

 605,500 cwts. But while this decrease is undoubtedly a large one, it 

 is still far from counterbalancing the increase which the 1910 figures 

 made upon those for 1909, as a reference to the table given above will 

 show. For purposes of comparison, the catch for 1911 is shown in the 

 same form. 



Year. East Coast. ^be^and^ West Coast. Total. 



Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. 



1911 .. 896,456 850,520 173,342 1,920,318 



It is questionable whether the early fishing on the East Coast will 

 prove a permanent asset to fishermen. The comparative failure of 

 the fishing in July and August during the last two years is generally 

 attributed to the breaking up of the shoals in May and June ; and, as 

 the fish are at their best later in the season, the trend of opinion at 

 present is all in favour of postponing the opening of the fishing until 

 the fish have reached a fairly advanced stage of maturity. 



The falling off in the catch was not confined to the East Coast and 

 Shetland, the West Coast returns showing a deficit also of 19,000 

 cwts., for which Stornoway, Barra, and Inveraray districts were mainly 

 responsible. Time was when the West Coast early fishing was practi- 

 cally synonymous with that at Stornoway, but the once famous fishing 

 carried on from that port in May and June has now dwindled to a mere 

 shadow of its former self. It reached its culminating point in 1898, in 

 which year it yielded 469,000 cwts. In 1911 only 35,000 cwts. were 

 landed. Barra district shows a decrease of 9823 cwts., or 13 per cent., 

 from the preceding year's figures, while a decrease almost identical in 



