Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xix 



food supply of both rich and poor. But even where this is not 

 possible they might be economically used. It has been pointed 

 out that at Eide, in the Hardanger Fjord, Norway, they are ex- 

 tensively preserved as anchovies, while in Canada they are cured 

 as sardines. It is to be hoped that ere long, if not used fresh 

 or preserved, nutritive extracts, oils, glues, and other valuable pro- 

 ducts, will be prepared from them before they reach the manure 

 factory, for until the oils are extracted, their fertilising power is 

 exceedingly limited. 



A question of almost equal interest is the supply of whitebait. Nature of 

 From investigations made by Professor Ewart and Mr Matthews, wwtebait. 

 it seems that whitebait consists almost entirely and at all seasons 

 of young sprats and young herrings, which vary in size and in the 

 relative proportions according to the season of the year and the 

 place of capture. From the samples examined it appears that 

 during the winter and spring months sprats largely predominate. 

 In the Firth of Forth whitebait there are very few young her- 

 ring, while in the winter whitebait found in the London markets 

 herring only form about 6 per cent., the remainder being sprats. As 

 the season advances the London whitebait contains a larger number 

 of herrings, there being during June and the latter part of May 

 nearly 80 per cent. In July the number of herrings slightly 

 diminish, and in August whitebait is composed of about one half 

 herrings and one half sprats. A reference to the paper (Appendix, 

 p. 96 ) shows further that the size varies considerably during the 

 year. 



This being the case the Firth of Forth and other inshore 

 waters might, in addition to providing whitebait for the towns in 

 their vicinity, send consignments to the English markets during 

 the winter and spring months. Hitherto most of the whitebait 

 used in Scotland has been obtained from London. 



As already indicated, the material collected by the Fishery officers Food of the 

 on the West Coast was, as far as possible, examined in the Natural Fishes, 

 History Department of the University of Edinburgh during the 

 winter. Part of this work consisted in continuing the examination 

 of the food of the useful fishes, and those papers dealing with the 

 food of the herring, cod, and haddock will be found in the Appen- 

 dix. Trom the paper on the food of the herring by Mr Brook 

 and Mr Calderwood, it will be seen that several thousand stom- 

 achs were examined, which represented the chief fishing stations 

 around the coast. It seems the food of the herring, which differs Food of the 

 very considerably at different seasons and in different districts, con- 

 sists of various kinds of free swimming Crustacea, most of which 

 are minute, while others measure an inch or more in length. 

 During winter and spring herring feed chiefly on Hy^peria Galha, 

 Nyctiphanes norvegica, and Sagitta. Sprats constitute a large part 

 of the food at certain seasons in such areas as the Firth of Tay 

 and the Beauly Firth. Near the Island of May during the spring 

 fishing the herring feed largely on the ova and young of their own 

 kind. During the summer the East Coast herring feed on cope- 

 pods, but apparently do not take large quantities of food at this 

 season. On the West Coast the copepods supply the chief portion 

 of the herrings' food, while Hyperia has not been met with, and 



