of the Fishery Board Jor Scotland. 



xxxix 



The East Anglian season of 1911 was remarkable for its short 

 duration and the heaviness of the landings during its currency. The 

 shoals were exceedingly dense, and whether or not there be any truth 

 in the theory that the scarcity of herrings on the East Coast of 

 Scotland during the last two years has been caused by the scattering 

 of the shoals, which are assumed to be moving southwards along the 

 coast, by the operations carried on in May and June, it is certainly 

 not supported by the experience of the English autumn fishing. 



The loss of gear, to which reference has been made, was due not so 

 much to stormy weather, as was the case in 1910, as to fouling and 

 sinking of nets owing to the weight of the fish enmeshed. The 

 greatest sufferers were the Peterhead vessels, which sustained losses 

 amounting in the aggregate to £8000, or £64 per vessel, although the 

 Buckie contingent, with total losses amounting to £15,290, also 

 suffered severely. 



The fleet which proceeded to the Irish fishings comprised 223 

 steamers, 2 motor, and 12 sailing boats, as compared with 165 steamers 

 and 35 sailing boats in 1910. The total catch amounted to 264,931 

 cwts., which realised £65,339, as compared with 153,819 cwts. and 

 £42,011 in the preceding year. The average earnings of the steamers 

 amounted to £281, and of the sailing boats to £159, these figures 

 marking a most satisfactory advance upon those of the previous year, 

 which were £237 and £84 respectively. 



After the close of the East Anglian fishing, a number of steam 

 drifters again proceeded to fish from Padstow, in Cornwall, but owing 

 to the very stormy weather encountered, their operations were not so 

 successful as in the preceding year. 



FISH USED FKBSH. 



Appendix C shows the quantity of fish sold for use in a fresh state 

 in 1911. The fluctuations in the totals of the various kinds are 

 accounted for mainly by proportionate increases or decreases in the 

 landings, as shown in Appendix B. ; but there is also evidence on the 

 whole of a greater demand for fresh fish. Apart from herrings (of 

 which nearly 90 per cent, are cured), there was an increase of about 

 117,000 cwts. in the total landings in 1911, while an addition of about 

 150,000 cwts. occurred in the quantity of the same kinds consumed 

 fresh. 



The most important class, and the one showing the greatest change 

 from the previous year's figures, is haddocks, in which there was an 

 increase in the immediate consumption of nearly 123,000 cwts., 

 bringing the total consumed fresh to considerably over half-a-million 

 cwts., or about a fourth of the total quantity (2,356,956 cwts.) of all 

 kinds so used. Although most of this increase is referable to the 

 districts of Aberdeen and Leith, where trawlers land the bulk of the 

 fish, it is satisfactory to note that substantial and relatively larger 

 increases are shown in the districts from Peterhead to Helmsdale, a 

 sign both of the greater productiveness of the Moray Firth and other 

 local fishing grounds, and of the more extensive appreciation of fresh 

 fish as an article of diet. 



