of the Fishery Board for Scotland. xiii 



while never overlooking the primary interests of national defence, 

 they were able from their intimate knowledge of the subject to 

 convince the Naval Authorities that numerous modifications of 

 restrictions proposed were possible without in any way detracting 

 from their efficacy. 



During the first two years of the war a certain amount of curing 

 for export was engaged in, a limited market being found in the United 

 States of America and elsewhere, but with the increasing scarcity of 

 foodstuffs, it became necessary to reserve the produce of the fisheries 

 to the utmost possible extent for the needs of our own people. This 

 could only be accomplished by discouraging the pickling of herrings, 

 and encouraging the preservation of such fish as could not be used 

 fresh in forms more in keeping with the popular taste, and by 

 increasing the facilities for marketing the fish from the remote places 

 at which it was landed. A scheme was accordingly arranged with 

 the curers early in 1917 by which the Board's officers were enabled 

 to restrict the purchase of any herrings for pickling until every other 

 channel for the absorption of the catch had been utilised to its fullest 

 capacity ; while every possible provision was made for transporting 

 the fish to the large centres of population. This scheme, which the 

 Board were mainly instrumental in devising and putting into opera- 

 tion, entailed numerous conferences with the trade and the railway 

 authorities, whose co-operation was essential, and the very large 

 measure of success achieved has already been alluded to in an earlier 

 portion of this Report. 



The reserves of food in the country were 'also supplemented as the 

 result of a scheme formulated some months later by a Committee 

 appointed by the Food Controller, on which the Board were repre- 

 sented, whereby curers' stocks could be taken over by the Government 

 at specified prices. 



As the economic pressure increased, the difficulty of satisfying 

 both naval and fishing requirements became intensified. The 

 exigencies of naval warfare led to an ever-increasing drain on the 

 materiel and personnel of the fishing fleet, and it therefore became 

 of prime importance to utilise the services of the fishermen available 

 to the maximum possible advantage. An arrangement was accord- 

 ingly arrived at — after anxious and protracted negotiations — whereby 

 the calling up of Scottish fishermen for naval service was placed 

 in the hands of the Board, and by this means the minimum dis- 

 turbance of the industry compatible with the satisfaction of naval 

 demands was secured. In addition, the Board were able to render 

 considerable assistance to the Admiralty in connection with the 

 chartering of fishing vessels. 



Throughout the war the Board were in intimate touch with the 

 Departments— such as the Board of Trade and Ministry of Food — 

 concerned with the provision, conservation, and disposal of the national 

 food supply, and were frequently consulted on the numerous 

 questions — such as, to name only a few, the granting of licences to 

 export fish, the importation and disposal of fish purchased by the 

 Government in Norway and Holland, cold storage, prepayment of 

 railway rates on fish sent by passenger train, the regulation of fish 

 prices, etc. — arising out of the conditions created by the war. 



