of the Fisher 1/ Board jor Scotland. 



xxxi 



lid.; while the amounts by which line exceeded trawl prices varied 

 between Id. and Is. 10d., and the variation in the excesses shown 

 in trawl prices extended from 5d. to 2s. lOd. 



Over the period brought under review the following represent 

 the average line prices per cwt. secured : — Haddocks 10s. 4d., cod 

 8s., and ling 6s. 3d.; while the corresponding average trawl prices 

 amounted to 10s. 7d., 8s. 6d., and 6s. Id. 



Whitings. 



Like other branches of the white fishing, that for whitings has 

 been characterised in recent years by the great and rapid increase 

 in the catch by trawlers concurrently with a great decrease in that 

 by liners. Only eight years ago line fishing accounted for about 

 three-fifths of the total landings, but in the course of a few years 

 the position was reversed, and, in 1906, of a total catch of 147,617 

 cwts, the trawlers were credited with no less than 81 per cent. 

 As regards value, however, the trawled fish did not occupy quite so 

 prominent a position, 74 per cent, representing the proportion 

 realised by them. The smaller prices brought by trawled whitings 

 were due to the fact that the fish were sold in wholesale quantities 

 at the few trawling ports, while line-caught whitings were landed 

 in comparatively small quantities throughout all the fishery 

 districts, and were often retailed or hawked in the localities where 

 landed. Aberdeen and Leith, in the ratio of about 2^ to 1, 

 furnished 96 per cent, of the trawled catch. 



Saithe, Torsk, and Conger Eels. 



The total catch of saithe in 1906 was 115,365 cwts., valued at 

 £22,733, these figures representing decreases of 11 per cent, and 

 2 per cent, respectively from the returns for 1905. The line catch 

 and value amounted to 41,638 cwts. and £7932 respectively, as 

 compared with 49,144 cwts. and £8190 in the preceding year, 

 the decline being referable to the East Coast and (especially) 

 Orkney and Shetland. Over 94 per cent, of the trawled catch was 

 landed at Aberdeen, whose returns for this fish, however, are 

 nearly 5000 cwts. less than in 1905. Torsk are landed chiefly by 

 liners, only about one-sixth of the catch and value of 10,974 cwts. 

 and £2822 respectively being accounted for by trawlers in the 

 year under review. The principal contributor to the line catch 

 was Aberdeen with almost two-thirds of the landings, while the 

 same district returned practically the whole of the trawled catch. 

 Conger eels are also caught almost entirely by lines, and of the 

 total catch and value, amounting to .15,299 cwts. and £7647 

 respectively, about 80 per cent, in each case was referable to West 

 Coast districts — chiefly Fort- William and Stornoway. The catch 

 shows a decline of 17 per cent, and the value a decline of 3 per 

 cent, from the preceding year's returns. 



