xl 



Fourth Annual Report of the 



Boats in each 

 Section. 



Grounds 

 Fished. 



Quality of 

 Herrings. 



Weather. 



Disasters at 



Barrels cured. 



During the early fishing 500 boats fished at Unst section, and 280 

 at Lerwick section ; but at the late fishing the latter had a fleet 

 of 545 boats, while the former had only 280. The grounds fished 

 lay from 6 to 40 miles from land. The quality of the herrings 

 was fairly good all the season. With the exception of the week 

 ending 15th August, the weather was generally suitable for 

 prosecuting the industry. A severe storm broke out on the 

 morning of the 13th of that month, when a large quantity of nets 

 were lost or torn. During the year three boats were wrecked, and 

 five fishermen drowned. The total number of barrels cured in the 

 district during the season was 370,238, of which 195,235 were cured 

 in the Unst section, and 175,003 in the Lerwick Section; being an in- 

 crease in the district of 70,121 barrels over the number cured in 

 1884. 



SUMMAEY OF EAST COAST HERRING FISHING. 



Eight Districts 

 show an 

 increase and 

 nine a 

 decrease. 



Net decrease 

 of 137,0681 

 Barrels cured 

 in 1885, as 

 against 1884. 



Greatest 

 increase in 

 Shetland. 



Continued 

 prosperity of 

 the Fishery- 

 there. 



Improvement 

 in Moray Firth 

 Districts. 



East Coast 

 Fishing of last 

 Fifty years. 



The returns of the Herring Fishing on the East Coast of Scotland 

 for 1885 show an increase, in eight districts, on the gross quantity 

 of herrings cured in 1884, o£ 112,335f barrels, and a decrease in 

 nine districts of 249,404 barrels, resulting in a net decrease of 

 137,068J barrels in 1885, as against 1884. The districts which 

 exhibit the largest decrease are Eyemouth, Montrose, Peterhead, 

 Fraserburgh, and Banff. Those which mainly contributed to the 

 increase are Stonehaven, Findhorn, Helmsdale, Lybster, Orkney, 

 and Shetland. The greatest increase, however, is due to Shetland, 

 in which were cured 70,121 barrels more than in the preceding 

 year, notwithstanding that the fishing of that year was the greatest 

 ever recorded there. Attention has been called, in previous Reports, 

 to the rapid and extraordinary development of the herring fishery 

 in Shetland since 1874. In that year the total quantity of 

 herrings cured at all the stations in Shetland amounted to only 

 1100 barrels, while in the year now reported on 370,238 barrels 

 were cured. The improvement in the yield of the Moray Firth 

 districts was owing to shoals of herrings having come to the 

 in-shore grounds. 



The official returns of herrings cured on the whole of the East 

 Coast of Scotland for the fifty years preceding last year, on the 

 average of each period of ten years, show a large and continuous 

 increase. They are as follow :— 



Yearly average 

 of Barrels 

 cured in! 

 periods of 

 ten years. 



Periods of Ten Years. 



1835 to 1844 inclusive, 



1845 „ 1854 „ 



1855 „ 1864 „ 



1865 „ 1874 



Yearly average of 

 Barrels cured. 

 428,343 

 495,879 

 515,368 

 602,375 



1875 



1884 „ 



Barrels cured in 1885, 1,318,982^. 



Decrease per The number of barrels cured in 1885, when compared with that 

 cent, in 1885 of 1884, shows a decrease of 10*39 per cent. ; when compared with 



from 1884. r ? x- 



