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Appendices to Thirtieth Annual Report 



School Boards in the district have given every facility to enable them to 

 attend these classes. 



Stormy weather retarded the progress of the harbour extension works 

 towards the end of the year, and the new harbour will therefore not be 

 available for next summer herring fishing. 



Fishery Office, George Cormack, 



Fraserburgh, 8^ January 1912. Fishery Officer. 



Banff District. 



The results of the fishing during 1911 were fairly satisfactory and 

 remunerative to all concerned. Within the limits of the district line 

 fishing was prosecuted more vigorously and successfully than for some years 

 back, haddocks especially being plentiful and good. The herring fishing 

 was apparently commenced too early in the season, with the result that 

 quantities of small immature herrings were landed unfit for either kippering 

 or curing. Shoals were broken up, too, diminishing the yield at a later and 

 more profitable time. However, fishermen generally do not now depend on 

 the success of this home fishing, which is only prosecuted regularly by a 

 very small fleet of boats, augmented by an occasional shot from vessels 

 coming home for a week-end visit. The Shetland and East Coast fishings 

 proved satisfactory to most of the steam drifters, and some sail boats did 

 very well at Stronsay, Orkney. In England also results were good, 

 benefiting both fishermen and curers, and using up large stocks of barrels, 

 thereby providing employment for coopers who would otherwise have been 

 short of work. It will therefore be seen that fishermen have little cause for 

 complaint, and curers do not hesitate to say that kippering did very well 

 and curing might have been worse. No new methods in the curing of fish 

 were introduced during the year, and freight rates remain practically 

 unchanged. A new feature in connection with the fishing industry here was 

 the laying down of a patent slip near the boat-building yard in Macduff. 

 This has been a great convenience for fishermen in overhauling and repairing 

 their vessels. 



There was a slight increase in the number of fishing vessels belonging to 

 the district. The gradual yearly reduction in sail boats was more than made 

 up by steam drifters, which are steadily increasing in number. Twenty-one 

 steamers were added to the fleet, the greatest annual increase since their 

 introduction, and there is every prospect of a still further increase next year. 

 The number of motor boats remained unchanged. Owing to the non-success 

 of the winter herring fishing during the last few years, fishermen this year 

 gave it no attention, and the only herrings landed (26 crans) were by boats 

 returning from the West Coast. The summer herring fishing began on 1st 

 May, and continued to the end of August. At first it was only moderately 

 successful, but towards the end of May and throughout the month of June 

 the supply was too abundant for kippering, and the herrings, being soft and 

 unkeepable, were not suitable for curing for exportation. Consequently 

 curers were not inclined to risk curing to any extent at so early a date, and 

 on several occasions fishermen had to discharge their fish into the sea. In 

 July and August the fishing was less successful, but the herrings were better 

 as regards size and quality, although still not up to the desired standard. In 

 May and June prices were lower, and in July to the end of the season were 

 on the whole better, than those of the preceding year. The average price for 

 the season was 17s. 4d. per cran, against 16s. 5d. in 1910, and the total 

 catch was about 1000 crans short of the previous year. The herrings 

 kippered and freshed were sent to Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham, 

 while those cured gutted went mostly to Stettin, Danzig, and Kbnigsberg. 



