xl 



Thirtieth Annual Report 



FISH CUBED AND EXPOETED. 

 I. Herrings Cured. 



There are no new features of special interest to record in connection 

 with the herring curing industry in 1911. The proportion of the 

 catch which is cured varies very slightly from year to year. Roughly 

 speaking, 90 per cent, is usually cured in one way or another. The 

 explanation is not far to seek. The main harvest of the sea is reaped 

 in a comparatively limited period — usually extending over two to two- 

 and-a-half months, the catches are landed at places remote from the 

 markets, conveyance by rail to which is costly and often uncertain 

 and inconvenient, and the demand at such a period is much less than 

 the supply. Consequently means have to be taken to preserve the 

 herrings so that the consumption may be gradual and the demand 

 correspondingly uniform and of sufficient volume to maintain the 

 price. Since the advent of the steam drifter, with its comparatively 

 costly upkeep, the herring fishing has been carried on more or less all 

 the year round, while during the last two years trawlers have been 

 using otter trawls for the capture of these fish. 



The chief modes of curing adopted in Scotland are pickling and 

 smoking. The former may be of different degrees of hardness, to suit 

 the class of fish to be cured and the market for which it is intended. 

 For instance, the fat and oily fish taken during the spring and early 

 summer months on the West Coast and off the Outer Hebrides are 

 quite unfit for anything but a light cure, and they must be consumed 

 within a few weeks after reaching their destination — usually the 

 Russian markets. 



The East Coast fish and the fish taken off Orkney and Shetland 

 are usually firmer and less fat, and are therefore able to stand a 

 heavier cure, and will accordingly be found in a good state of 

 preservation in eight months or a year after capture. 



The huge floating population to which the industry affords employ- 

 ment forms one of its most interesting features and also one of its 

 difficult problems. From the standpoint of the local authorities alone 

 it can at once be seen that the sudden influx of hundreds of workers 

 into a comparatively small township for a period of two months is a 

 stiff proposition for any local authority to solve. In many cases a 

 normal population of 1000 is increased seven or eight-fold at a single 

 bound, and these have to be housed under proper sanitary conditions 

 and supplied with wholesome w T ater. 



Then, apart from these difficulties, there are the social and moral 

 aspects of the case to be faced, and these are met by the foresight and 

 generosity of the various churches, and the zeal and self-sacrifice of 

 individual religious teachers who accompany the workers from place 

 to place and do all in their power to improve their social and moral 

 condition, and to contribute materially to their bodily comforts. 



The great majority of the gutters and packers belong to the High- 

 lands and Islands, and they are engaged by the various curing firms at 

 the beginning of the season and conveyed from place to place according 

 to the exigencies of the industry in specially chartered steamers. It 

 is estimated that the number of gutters and packers employed in 

 Scotland is between 13,000 and 14,000, of whom 8000 go to districts 



