of the Fishery Board for Scotland. Ixi 



Year. 



Herrings 

 Caught. 



Year. 



Herrings 

 Caught. 



1900, - 



94 74-3 orn.ns 



1906, - 



5 258 crans. 



1901, - 



- 29,117 „ 



1907! - 



- 3',914 „ 



1902, - 



■ 26,339 „ 



1908, - 



- 4,070 „ 



1903, - 



- 21,198 „ 



1909, - 



- 3,684 „ 



1904, - 



- 7,827 „ 



1910, - 



- 10,405 ., 



1905, - 



- 4,672 , 



1911, - 



- 4,672 „ 



It will be observed that the quantity of herrings taken in 1911, 

 which was precisely the same as in 1905, was much less than in 

 1910, and that the great improvement manifested in the latter year 

 was not maintained. Herrings were reported as entering Lochfyne 

 in March ; in Ma}^ they were said to be plentiful in both the upper 

 and lower reaches of the loch ; in July they were fairly plentiful in 

 the lower loch, and in this month 1412 crans were landed ; but later 

 they left the loch altogether. 



The statistics of the herring fishery in Lochfyne go back to the 

 year 1854, and they show that in the 'seventies, and in particular in 

 1873 and 1874, there was a somewhat similar failure in the fishing, 

 the point reached being even a little lower, but the depression did not 

 last so long. Fluctuations in the herring fishery, especially in 

 fjords or arms of the sea, are of not unfrequent occurrence on the 

 coasts of other countries, and have been attributed to various causes, 

 but none of the explanations put forward to account for them has 

 been generally accepted. Variations in the physical conditions of 

 the water, or in the quantity or kind of the minute floating organisms 

 on which the herring mainly subsists, are believed by many to be the 

 main cause, and since 1904 periodical observations have been carried 

 on in Lochfyne with the object of ascertaining whether this is the 

 correct explanation. At a number of places in the loch a series of 

 temperature observations are made at different levels, and collections 

 of the floating food secured, and it is proposed to continue these in- 

 vestigations until the herrings return to the loch in their former 

 abundance, so that comparison may be instituted between the obser- 

 vations taken in the period of scarcity and those taken in the period 

 of abundance. 



The Influence of Temperature on the Development of the Eggs 



of the Herring. 



As mentioned in the Report for last year, experiments on the re- 

 tardation of the development of herring eggs have been made at the 

 Marine Laboratory by Dr. H. C. Williamson, at the request of the 

 New Zealand Government, who wish, if possible, to introduce the 

 herring into the waters of the Dominion. The method adopted was 

 to keep the fertilised eggs, which were fertilised on board a fishing- 

 boat, at a low temperature in order to ascertain whether the time 

 that elpased before they hatched would suffice to cover the journey to 

 New Zealand, with something to spare. Some of the eggs in the 

 cooled water were kept without hatching taking place for more than 

 forty days, and a few for a little more than fifty days. The results 

 were communicated to the New Zealand authorities, and the methods 

 and details were described by Dr. Williamson in a paper published 

 separately. 



