of the Fishery Board for Scotland,. 



xix 



In the earlier portion of the second quarter — during which Second 

 period fishing was prosecuted only intermittently — marked success Q" arter - 

 attended the operations of several crews who engaged in line fish- 

 ing and landed the takes secured at Aberdeen. Fair results were 

 also obtained by several crews at the Irish herring fishing, in opera- 

 tion during May, and moderate success by others at the herring 

 fishings prosecuted from Castlebay, Stornoway, Orkney, and Shet- 

 land. The most remunerative fishing for herrings was, however, 

 that engaged in from Peterhead during the month of June. 



Throughout the third quarter the herring fishing was carried on Third Quarter, 

 by all the district crews from Peterhead, except in the case of a 

 small proportion whose takes during the first two months were 

 landed in Shetland ; and, as the prices obtained for the fish cap- 

 tured were high, the result was large earnings in the majority of 

 instances. 



The entire fleet was employed at the English herring fishing, in Fourth 

 the prosecution of which — carried on principally from Lowestoft Q uarter - 

 and Yarmouth — remarkable success was obtained. As prices were 

 maintained at a high level throughout the season at the various 

 ports at which the fish were landed, the earnings were exceptionally 

 good, the average amounting to as much as £956 per vessel, as com- 

 pared with an average of £195 in the case of the sailing boats. 



The two vessels belonging to the district of Fraserburgh were Fraserburgh 

 supplemented during the year by a third, which was launched, Dlstllct - 

 however, only in time to admit of its employment at the English * 

 herring fishing. The operations of the three vessels were attended 

 with much success, although, in the case of one of them, this 

 success was unfortunately curtailed by the loss at Yarmouth of an 

 entire drift of nets (with the herrings meshed in them) and a bush 

 rope. In this connection, reference may be made to a belief preva- 

 lent among fishermen that the deterioration in drift nets used in 

 conjunction with steam vessels proceeds at a much more rapid 

 pace than what obtains in the case of nets employed on board of 

 sailing boats. In estimating the value of this belief, the fact must, 

 however, be kept in view that, in the former case, the nets are shot 

 more frequently and allowed to drift for longer periods than in the 

 latter. 



Prior to 1906 there was an evident disinclination on the part of 

 the majority of the district fishermen to associate themselves with 

 the acquirement of steam vessels, this disinclination being 

 engendered by a hope that experts might be able to devise a 

 relatively economical motive power capable of use as an auxiliary 

 to the sails on board the boats at present owned by the fishermen 

 — by far the larger proportion of which are of the highest class. 

 During the year under review, however, a considerable number of 

 the fishermen — impressed, no doubt, with the success of many of 

 the steam drifters, and, at the same time, aware that this success 

 had been obtained without the arduous labour inseparable from the 

 working of sailing craft, with their heavy masts and canvas — began 

 to realise the advantages accruing from the employment of steam, 

 as compared with sails, in the prosecution of the fishing. The 

 result was that orders were given for the construction of such a 

 number of steam vessels as will, it is understood, raise the district 



