68 



Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



siderations come in, as the loss of capture of the large fish, the very remote 

 chance of the take of the small fish becoming so extensive as practically to 

 prevent any addition to the numbers of the large, &c. Only it is well to 

 note that the restriction of our means of catching the herring to such as 

 will secure only the larger fish may not therefore be followed by an in- 

 crease or even retention of the present size of the herring. So far, how- 

 ever, as regards the numbers of the herring, and to a certain extent also 

 as regards their size, the eff'ect of a mesh which takes fish below the size 

 of spawners, fish immature both as to general growth and sexual con- 

 dition, is very different. 



The recognition of these immature fish by their size alone is sur- 

 rounded by considerable difficulties, dependent principally on the great 

 variations in size in conjunction with sexual maturity, which occur not 

 only among the herrings of different localities or seasons, but in the 

 same shoals. Still a general idea, such as given below of the fullest 

 size of these immature fish, may be arrived at and used as a rough 

 guide in their identification. But it would seem that much more im- 

 portance should be attached, if these immature fish are to be pro- 

 tected, to the date at which the herring fishing commences. The quality 

 of the takes examined appears to point to the fact that in the early 

 part of the fishing season, where that is not restricted, a large 

 proportion of the fish captured, are comparatively small and quite 

 immature. During the height of the season, I think not many, pro- 

 portionately, of the fish taken are sexually immature. It is supposed by 

 some that these immature early fish are coming shore wards as a prelimin- 

 ary to spawning, and though yet apparently immature, will increase in 

 size and ripeness, and will spawn during the current season. I am inclined, 

 without any actual proof, to think otherwise. If the adult herring came 

 to the spawning banks in a sexually very early, or, apparently immature 

 condition for the purpose of spawning when ripe, we would have more 

 reason from the apparent similarity in their sexual condition to think these 

 small fish might do so also ; but we almost never see an adult herring 

 without its roe and milt being fairly developed at least considerably beyond 

 their earliest condition, unless indeed in its shotten stage, and I think I 

 may be able to show that probably the earlier development of the ova is 

 much slower than the latter stages. Now when we do find the ova in a 

 very early stage it is generally, not always, so found in the smaller fish, 

 I believe for the reason that the larger and older herrings, while in this con- 

 dition, are not near the spawning beds, and I take it, from this and other 

 appearances, that these are generally young fish spawning for the first 

 time, and which are caught a considerable time before they are ripe, 

 because they as young fish have been frequenting the inshore waters, and 

 are not there for the direct purpose of spawning. It is probable that these 

 immature fish which are taken early in the season and seem to be the har- 

 bingers of the great shoals, would be found much more often and in greater 

 numbers than we usually suppose, were only the means at hand, viz., the 

 men, nets, and boats, for testing this question, during a still earlier part 

 of the season, or daring the off-fishing season itself. Moreover, it is quite 

 likely that these shoals of young herrings are induced to travel shorewards, 

 even if their natural instinct is not towards it at that age, by the gradual 

 approach of the spawning fish, a good many among which, especially 

 of the smaller ones, are mixed up among the immatures at this early 

 period. 



When we turn to the consideration of the size, principally as repre- 

 sented by length, of the herring caught around the Scottish Coasts we are 

 met by the difficulty at the outset that we cannot be sure that those 



