xiv 



Part I. — Tiventy-fifth Annual Report 



Number, Tonnage, and Value of Boats and Vessels. 



Number. 



Factors at 

 Work. 



Tonnage and 

 Value. 



Replacement 

 of Sail Boats. 



For the downward movement in relation to the number of boats 

 and vessels — extending to 369 — the East Coast is responsible to 

 the extent of 48 per cent., Orkney and Shetland are accountable 

 for 11 per cent., and the West Coast for 41 per cent. 



The East Coast districts more closely identified with the move- 

 ment embrace, in the order given, Buckie, Eindhorn, and Peterhead, 

 and those associated with it less closely include, in a similar order, 

 Banff, Aberdeen, Stonehaven, and Montrose, Of the two bracketed 

 northern districts, Shetland is involved in the decrease in a much 

 greater degree than Orkney ; while, on the western seaboard, the 

 movement is more apparent in the case of Lochbroom (which is 

 responsible for by far the largest decrease), Lochcarron and Skye, 

 JStornoway, and Bothesay. 



Of the factors at work in producing this movement on the East 

 Coast, the most notable is the increasing tendency to discard sail- 

 ing boats in favour of steam vessels, while the decrease affecting 

 the West Coast is attributable, in a large measure, to the failure to 

 replace worn out craft, principally of the smaller size, the fisher- 

 men preferring, in many instances, to hire themselves on board of 

 vessels of a more modern type ; and those two factors likewise 

 account for a large proportion of the decreases in the cases of 

 tonnage and value (including the value of fishing gear), which 

 amount respectively to 4361 tons and £67,251, or 4 per cent, in 

 either case. 



As illustrating the extent to which, in recent years, the building 

 of sailing boats on the East Coast has been abandoned and those 

 on hand have been displaced by steam vessels, it may be stated 

 that, since 1903, no sail boats of the type so much in demand for a 

 considerable number of years previously — costing from £720 to 

 £850 — have been constructed in Peterhead district, while, since the 

 introduction of steam drifters in 1900, the number of sail-propelled 

 boats belonging to that district has suffered a diminution of 38 per 

 cent. 



Nets. 



Ramie for In the annual report for Helmsdale District (Appendix M, p. 256) 

 Dnft Nets. reference is made to the conduct, during the year, of an experiment 

 designed to test the suitability of ramie for use in the manufacture 

 of herring drift nets. With that object in view four nets were 

 made of this material and were employed in the prosecution of the 

 early and late summer herring fishings by the crew of a steam 

 drifter, who found them to be possessed of two of the essential 

 characteristics of effective drift netting, viz., the quality necessary 

 for effecting the capture of the fish, and the strength requisite for 

 bearing their weight when meshed. The crew also formed the 

 opinion that nets composed of ramie would prove to be of a more 

 durable nature than those made of cotton, and this opinion would 

 appear to be well founded if, as is represented, the former material 

 is stronger and less absorbent than the latter. The texture of the 

 twine as spun was, however, much too fine for the purpose intended, 



