xxxiv 



Fourth Anmial Report of the 



Pi-ogvess of 

 Fishing. 



Steam Fishing 

 Boats. 



Pi'oduce of 

 Season. 



Unfavourable 

 weather and 

 its results. 



Boat foundered 

 and Crew 

 perished. 



September, and the best fishing grounds lay from 30 to 70 miles 

 at sea. The two most productive weeks of the season were those 

 ending 1st and 29th August, during which the boats averaged 24 

 and 31 crans respectively. The highest individual take was 117 

 crans, and the most successful boat landed in the year a gross catch 

 of 450 crans; the least successful got 20 crans. The English and 

 Irish boats made a poor fishing, and their gross takes were much 

 under the general average of the season. The fleet included five 

 steam fishing boats. Of these, four were of a superior class and 

 well equipped, and having large meshed nets the herrings they cap- 

 tured were of a large size. The season's catch contained a greater 

 proportion of small herrings than that of any former year. It 

 yielded an average of 158J crans to each boat. In 1884 the average 

 was 176 J crans. The total number of barrels cured was 81,815, 

 being a decrease of 7898 barrels from the cure of 1884. Calms and 

 fogs occasionally delayed the boats from getting to land until 

 their herrings were spoilt, and 3500 crans of such fish were partly 

 sold for manure and the remainder thrown into the sea. Altogether, 

 unfavourable weather prevailed during the season. Had it been 

 otherwise, there would have been a much better fishing, as herrings 

 were abundant off the coast. On the morning of 13th August a 

 large decked boat, with a great catch of herrings on board, 

 foundered during a violent storm from the north-east, and unfor- 

 tunately the whole crew perished. On the same morning a man 

 fell overboard from another boat and was also drowned. 



Peterhead District. 



Boundary of 

 District. 



Number of 

 Boats at the 

 different 

 Stations. 



Average catch, 



Small 

 Herrings. 



Early Fishing 

 discouraged. 



Progress of 

 Fishing. 



From Aberdeen to Kattray Head, both inclusive. 



District Fishery Office — Peterhead. 



In Peterhead district 722 boats were employed in 1885 — of 

 which 612 fished from Peterhead, 78 from Boddam, and 32 from 

 Port Erroll — being a decrease of 41 boats from the fleet of 1884. 

 The average catch per boat was 186J crans, as against 240 crans in 

 the preceding year. The fishing began early in July, and at that 

 time there was every indication that it would be abundant. The 

 herrings taken at this early period of the season were very small, 

 and owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the preceding year's 

 transactions in such herrings, they were only saleable at very 

 low prices — some of the takes indeed having only realised Is. 

 per cran. "With the view of discouraging a continuance of this 

 early fishing, it was arranged between the curers and the fishermen 

 generally, that the agreed on prices at which herrings were to be 

 bought during the season were not to come into operation till 

 the 20th of July, thus leaving any catches brought on shore before 

 that time to be sold for what they would bring. This arrange- 

 ment had, to a great extent, the desired effect, as scarcely any en- 

 couragement was thereafter given to boats landing herrings on 

 an earlier day. A number of individual takes during the season 

 ranged from 100 to 122 crans. The largest aggregate catch 

 of any one boat was 430 crans, and the lowest 50 crans. The 



