of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



25 



This method of fishing was not so successful as usual in Shetland 

 waters, owing both to an apparent scarcity of white fish on the usual 

 grounds and to difficulty in obtaining herring bait in the spring 

 months. 



The prosecution of this fishing at other centres was on a much 

 smaller scale. 



Small and Hand Lining. 



The financial results of the small and hand line or inshore 

 fisheries during the year, like those of other branches, were rather 

 poor. The total quantity and value of the line catch by motor and 

 sail vessels for the year (including, however, motor great-line shots, 

 which are not distinguished) were 398,849 cwts. and £560,526, as 

 against 494,236 cwts. and £885,535 in 1919 and 496,329 cwts. and 

 £1,321,294 in 1918, in which year the value reached its maximum. 

 It was often only with difficulty that a living wage could be secured 

 by these methods of fishing, as the high cost of oil, of bait and of 

 labour for baiting lines absorbed the greater part of the proceeds of 

 the catch. The fishing was nevertheless prosecuted when weather 

 permitted all around the Scottish coasts, while only in a few 

 exceptional cases was there any deliberate reversion from motor to 

 sailing boats. In 1913, when the motor and sail line catch totalled 

 355,985 cwts., valued at £178,945, only about one-eighth was landed 

 by motor vessels, whereas last year the proportion was over two- 

 thirds. Small and hand line fishing, after a temporary revival during 

 the war, are evidently again falling off, and in view of the heavy 

 labour involved in the baiting of lines a further decline is probable. 



Seine Flounder Net Fishing. 



Owing to the poor financial results of small-line fishing, increased 

 attention was paid during the year to seine flounder net fishing for 

 flat fish, as working costs are less than in the case of lining, the bait 

 and baiting difficulty in particular being completely obviated, although 

 on the other hand the method is more susceptible to interruption by 

 rough weather. The fishing is conducted mainly by motor boats, and 

 the bulk of the catch consists of plaice. The catch for the year 

 amounted to about 15,000 cwts., valued at nearly £40,000, as against 

 5500 cwts., valued at £19,000, in 1919. 



This method of fishing, which, as carried on in Scotland, is 

 practicable only in comparatively shallow water, is really a modified 

 form of trawling, and as regards the territorial waters is permitted 

 only in the Clyde and in certain restricted areas in the Firth of 

 Forth and on the East Coast, which have been opened to it by bye- 

 law. During the year applications were made for the extension of 

 the permissive areas on the East Coast, and local inquiries were 

 accordingly held, but no decision in the matter was reached before 

 the end of the year. 



Cod Net Fishing. 



Fishing for cod by means of anchored nets was as usual conducted 

 in the spring months, when the cod congregate for spawning, chiefly 

 in the Moray Firth and also in the Firth of Forth, off Badachro in 



