of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



47 



KEPOET ON THE HERRING FISHERY OF LOCH FYNE AND 

 THE ADJACENT DISTRICTS DURING 1885. By Geokge 

 Brook, F.L.S. 



While superintending the erection of the Fishery Board's Laboratory 

 at Tarbert in the spring of last year, I made extensive inquiries concerning 

 the herring fishery of the district. I was soon led to the conclusion that 

 the Loch Fyne fishery probably presents greater facilities for an investiga- 

 tion of the life history of the herring than are to be found at any other 

 part of the coast of Scotland. The problem is a difficult one in any case, 

 but' the land-locked area of the Clyde estuary naturally ofi'ers greater 

 advantages for such an inquiry than would be the case if the whole 

 district were open to the Atlantic. Whenever fish proceed far out to 

 sea, it becomes almost impossible to follow them from place to place. On 

 the West Coast, between Inveraray and the south of Arran, the herring 

 frequent a series of comparatively narrow lochs and sounds, in which 

 their movements and migrations may be more easily followed. Again, 

 the chief herring fishery seasons in Scotland are during the spawning 

 period. Loch Fyne is however an exception in this respect. The fish 

 resort there primarily for the purpose of feeding, and the majority of the 

 herring leave Loch Fyne before the spawning season has arrived. The 

 district thus offers special facilities for a study of the growth as well as 

 the migrations of the herring. 



Although my investigations have mainly been carried on in Loch Fyne 

 and the Sound of Kilbrannan, I have been led to conclude that the 

 fishery of the whole Clyde estuary must be studied as a whole, and that 

 the herring fishery of each district is inseparably connected with that of 

 neighbouring districts. For this reason I have included the whole of the 

 waters north of a line drawn from the Mull of Kintyre to Loch Ryan, in 

 what I have termed the Loch Fyne area. There are fishery officers 

 stationed at Girvan, Campbeltown, Greenock, Rothesay, and Ardrishaig, 

 and there is also an assistant officer at Tarbert. The herring fishery in 

 these five districts may be separable, so far as statistics are concerned, 

 but I hope to show that from a biological point of view it is necessary to 

 consider the whole as comprising one area of migration. 



I am indebted to the Board's officers in these districts for much valu- 

 able information concerning the herring fishery of the Clyde estuary 

 during the present and past years. It is the general belief amongst the 

 Loch Fyne fishermen that the herring which are caught there during the 

 summer are to a large extent the same fish which spawned at Ballantrae 

 in the spring. The spawning season at Ballantrae extends from the 

 beginning of February to aboui the end of ]\Iarch. Last year the Ballan- 

 trae fish left the spawning ground about the 26th of March, and on the 

 31st of the same month about sixteen boxes of herring were caught off 

 Campbeltown, which were regarded as Ballantrae fish. The herring 

 are then supposed to pass along the Sound of Kilbrannan to Loch Fyne. 

 The earliest catch in Loch Fyne was near Skipness Point about the 15th 

 of April. These herring were mostly spent fish and in very bad condi- 

 tion. Throughout the remainder of April occasional takes of a similar 

 kind were made, and in the beginning of May the fishing became 

 general north of Skipness. The weather was unsettled in the Campbel- 

 town district, and although boats went out occasionally during April, 

 there was practically no fishing until May. 



The Loch Fyne fish in April and early May are mostly about 9 to 10 

 inches long, and are in very bad condition. They are scarcely fit for food 



