vi 



Thirty -seventh Annual Report 



on practically free from Admiralty restrictions, and the fishermen, 

 spurred on by the lucrative earnings to be gained, prosecuted the 

 fishing with unremitting energy. Many difficulties had to be con- 

 tended with : the weather was unusually stormy, delays in discharging 

 owing to the congestion at the ports of landing were frequent, and 

 the shoals were less widely distributed than in the preceding year : but 

 notwithstanding these handicaps, the season's total amounted to 

 nearly 700,000 cwts., for which £915,000 were realised, as against 

 712,000 cwts., valued at £472,500, in 1917. 



Reference was made in last year's Report to the efTect upon the 

 incidence of the landings of the special conditions created by the war. 

 The curtailment of curing owing to the cutting-ofi of the usual markets, 

 on the one hand, and on the other the increasing demand for fish 

 to compensate for the shortage of other foodstuffs had, it was pointed 

 out, tended to divert the landings from Stornoway, formerly the 

 principal centre of the winter fishing, to the railway termini on the 

 mainland. This tendency was accentuated during the year under 

 review, the statistics showing that over 55 per cent, of the season's 

 catch was landed at Mallaig, Oban, and Kyle, as against 40 per cent, 

 in 1917, and the difference would have been still more pronounced 

 but for the fact that the last-named port was closed to fish traffic 

 by the Admiralty in the middle of February. 



This tendency developed as the year progressed, and the total 

 figures show that 566,445 cwts. were landed at the mainland ports, 

 and 372,727 cwts. at Stornoway, as against 482,000 cwts. and 435,000 

 cwts. respectively in 1917. 



The Shetland herring fishing declined still further in 1918. 

 Owing to the presence of enemy submarines fishing operations were 

 not possible during the first quarter of the year, and only 693 cwts. 

 were landed during that period ; and although fish were very abundant 

 in Shetland waters during the summer months, the lack of adequate 

 facilities for dispatching fish fresh to the southern markets rendered 

 it unprofitable for even the local boats to prosecute the fishing to 

 any extent, and the total catch for the year was only 97,650 cwts., 

 as against 120,362 cwts. in 1917. 



The "summer herring fishing on the East Coast yielded a total of 

 782,495 cwts., valued at £863,150, as compared with 700,124 cwts. 

 and £471,834 in the preceding year. The area available for fishing 

 operations was again severely circumscribed, but the Naval Authorities 

 found it practicable to throw open for a time an additional area to 

 the north-east of Kinnaird Head, and the result is seen in the 

 increased landings at the ports from Peterhead to Buckie, which 

 received 677,000 cwts., or 56,000 cwts. more than in 1917. On the 

 other hand, the fishing on the South-East Coast was a failure, the 

 total catch of 12,000 cwts. being less than one-fourth of that landed 

 in the preceding year. 



The proportions of the total catch landed by steam, motor, and 

 sailing drifters respectively were roughly one-third, one-half, and 

 one-fifth. As between motor and steam-drifters, this reversal of the 

 usual position was due entirely to the wholesale depletion of the steam- 

 fishing fleet by the Admiralty, but it will be observed that during 

 the winter fishing, the largest share of the catch fell to the steamers, 

 their greater size giving them the advantage in stormy weather. 



