of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



145 



Conclusion. 



The question that first arises in connection with mussel culture at 

 Montrose within the past six years is whether there has been advance 

 or not in the methods employed, whether, in fact, Montrose Basin has 

 increased in productiveness and can supply a larger quantity of mussels 

 of bait size for the line fishermen. Having watched the different changes 

 that the beds have undergone year by year, I must conclude that mussel 

 culture presents a decided advance within the last six years, and the 

 development of the bed system, that has taken place, has been the result 

 of judicious foresight and wide practical acquaintance with all the details 

 necessary for the successful working of mussel beils on a large scale. 

 While certain areas of a limited extent have been abandoned, as 

 experience dictated, this has been more than counter-balanced by the 

 increase in the acreage of new ground brought for the first time under 

 cultivation. The additional ground now bearing mussels has chiefly been 

 in storage-ground. It is situated at the Tayock and Gaswork Burns, and 

 at the Scaud Man's Head on the north side, and on the Inshore Bank on 

 the Ferryden Shore. The total mussel area is fairly constant, but if 

 methods of lessening the heights of the banks by artificial and natural 

 means combined were adopted, the period during which banks have to 

 lie fallow would be shortened, and the capacities of the estuary of the 

 South Esk as a mussel-producing area would be increased. 



The chief facts which have to be noted in connection with the culture 

 of the last six years are : — (1) The importation of seed mussels from a 

 distance to meet the deficiency of the seed obtained locally, and (2) the 

 unusual severity of the past two winters, and the consequent destruction 

 to the stocks on the beds. 



As to the first, in no other instance in Scotland has seed been im- 

 ported from a distance, and in such quantities to stock the beds from 

 which bait mussels were removed and sold in ordinary course. The lesson 

 to be learned from this "new movement will be of value when mussel 

 culture in Scotland is undertaken on a scale sufficient to meet the bait 

 requirements of the line fishermen. When beds are depleted or reck- 

 lessly fished, the seed-difficulty is the first one felt. The beds at Mon- 

 trose have regained their former condition only by a large expenditure for 

 seeding. The dredging of Tay seed, its transport by rail to Montrose, and 

 re-laying on the mussel ground there is a marked advance on previous 

 Scottish methods, and the additional employment afforded to the fishing 

 communities of Tayport and Montrose has been considerable. Labour 

 and a judicious expenditure in capital for stocking and other operations 

 are as necessary for mussel farming as for the farming of arable 

 land. But the first requisite for mussel culture is a thorough practical 

 acquaintance with foreshore farming of the mussel in all its branches. 

 Cultivation cannot otherwise be placed on a sound economic basis, and 

 much money may be wasted. 



The destruction brought about by the storms and frost of the past two 

 winters has been the greatest on record. The north-east gale of 

 November 1893, and the north-north-west gale of 22nd December 1894, 

 caused havoc to the mussels, the like of which has never been known 

 within the experience of the two mussel superintendents. The frost, in 

 the beginning of 1895, did much damage, especially to the young seed on 

 the higher banks like the Inshore Bank, but where the banks were not 

 long bare during each tide, and where the mussels were older, the stock was 

 not injuriously affected. Fortunately, floating ice did little or no damage. 

 The destruction by the two northerly gales was much mitigated by the 



