of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



XXXIX 



With regard to the English fishing it may be pointed out that pj 1 ^ 11 

 the number of Scottish boats engaged (1292) not only exceeded 13 xng * 

 the number for the preceding year by 85 but was the highest on 

 record. A promising beginning was made with the fishing, but, 

 unfortunately, stormy weather supervened in the latter half of 

 November, with the result that the catch fell short of the landings 

 in the preceding year by over 329,000 cwts.. while the gross 

 earnings showed a deficiency of over £8000. Prices ruled 

 exceptionally high, however, so that the loss to fishermen, 

 financially, was not so great relatively to the decline in the catch, 

 and the total sum realised was second only to the record return in 

 1905. The average earnings per crew were £369, as compared 

 with £402 in 1905, £251 in 1904, and £353 in 1902— the most 

 successful year prior to 1905. 



As in previous years, Buckie district was represented by the Comparison of 

 greatest number of crews with over one-quarter of the total number, j^f^f * or 

 followed by Anstruther with between one-seventh and one-eight, Districts. 

 Fraserburgh and Banff with about one-twelfth, and Eyemouth and 

 Peterhead with about one-fourteenth. The remaining East Coast 

 districts were represented by from 11 to 76 boats, but the only 

 representative of the West Coast was Stornoway district with nine 

 boats. From an examination of the Table it appears that the 

 crews hailing from Aberdeen, Peterhead, Helmsdale, and Wick 

 were the most successful, their earnings averaging £809, £617, 

 £608, and £575 respectively. In explanation of these figures, 

 however, as compared with the average earnings, it must be kept 

 in view that nearly two-thirds of the boats from these districts 

 were steam drifters, which earned much larger sums than the sailing 

 boats. As illustrative of the difference in the earnings (a difference 

 due to the rapidity with which steam drifters can get to and from 

 the fishing grounds, to their ability to work in weather when 

 sailing boats are unable to do so, &c), it may be stated that out of 

 the total fleet of 1292 boats engaged, 257 were steam drifters, 

 whose average earnings were £942, while the average earnings of the 

 remaining 1035 sailing boats were only £227. Details of the 

 operations of the various steam drifters engaged at the English 

 fishing will be found in Table III. embodied in the article on 

 " Means of Capture " (page xxii), to which reference should be 

 made. 



The total number of Scottish crews engaged at the Irish fishing Wsh Fishing- 

 was 307, and their total catch was 53,559 cwts., valued at £35,556. iSsuSs? 

 The average catch per boat was thus 174 cwts. and the average 

 earnings £116, as compared with 136 crans and £70 in 1905. Tae 

 boats from Eyemouth, Leith, and Anstruther districts fished 

 mainly in the south of Ireland, while the boats from other districts 

 operated chiefly on the north coast, and it will be noted from an 

 inspection of the Table that the former received very much smaller 

 prices than the latter. As in preceding years, Fraserburgh sent 

 the greatest number of boats to the fishing (about 36 per cent, of 

 the total), while it was followed by Banff, Buckie, Findhorn, Leith, 

 and Eyemouth with, collectively, over 82 per cent, of the remainder 

 of the fleet. The Helmsdale crews were, on the whole, most 

 successful with average earnings of £258, followed by the Wick 



m 



