iv 



Thirty -seventh Annual Report 



Changes in Means of Captuke. 



The figures for the year 1918 as to the number and value of the 

 vessels, etc., engaged in the Scottish fisheries, given above and in 

 Table A, do not include the vessels which were engaged in the 

 service of the country, or unemployed on account of lack of crews to 

 man them. 1249 steam and motor fishing vessels were taken over 

 by the Admiralty for mine-sweeping and other duties, while about 

 20,000 fishermen out of a total of 33,000 were on active service or 

 employed at naval bases. 



Their most striking feature is the great appreciation shown in the 

 value of all kinds of boats and gear, the total increase amounting to 

 £1,136,425, or no less than 60 per cent. This remarkable increase 

 was due not only to the great rise in the cost of labour and materials, 

 but also to the keenness of the competition to acquire fishing vessels 

 which arose in consequence of the extraordinarily lucrative results 

 derived from fishing during the year. 



In regard to the steam fishing fleet there is little to record. A 

 number of powerful steam trawlers and drifters were built to the 

 order of the Admiralty, but these have not so far been registered as 

 fishing craft, although they will doubtless be added to the strength 

 of the fishing fleet in due course. 



There was again a large addition to the number of motor fishing 

 vessels. The number of boats actually employed in fishing is shown 

 in Table A, but if boats engaged otherwise than in fishing or 

 unemployed during the year are taken into account, the Scottish 

 motor fishing-fleet at the end of 1918 numbered 1518, an increase of 

 256 over the total for the preceding year. The greatest increase 

 occurred in second-class boats, a fact which is attributable to the 

 singular success of this type of vessel in small-line fishing in inshore 

 waters. Substantial as is the increase reported, it would un- 

 doubtedly have been . much greater but for the difficulties experi- 

 enced by the makers in supplying and installing engines, a large 

 number of orders having been unfulfilled at the close of the year. 



The following figures show the totals for the years 1917 and 

 1918 :— 



1918. 1917. Increase. 



East Coast .... 1008 811 197 



Orkney and Shetland ... 66 54 12 



West Coast . 444 397 47 



Total . 1518 1262 256 



On the opposite page we give a diagram showing in graphic form 

 the increase in the steam and motor fishing fleets of Scotland during 

 the last fourteen years : the figures for the last four years represent 

 the number of vessels on the register, and not the numbers actually 

 engaged in fishing. 



Total Catch. 



The total quantity of fish landed in Scotland (exclusive o'f shell 

 fish) during the year under review was 3,313,228 cwts., which realised 



