238 Appendices to Twenty-fifth Annual Report 



Great-line 

 Fishing. 



Small-line 

 Fishing. 



Shell-fish 

 Fishing. 



Sparling 

 Fishing. 



English 

 Fishing. 



Irish Fishing. 

 Boatbuilding. 



Casualties. 



Barometers. 



the herrings were cured gutted, and all the available ground about the 

 harbour was utilised for curing purposes. 



Great-line fishing is yearly receiving less attention from the district 

 fishermen, who now prefer to follow the herring fishing all the year 

 round. The catches of the local steam fishing vessels are usually landed 

 at stations outside the limits of this district. 



Small-line fishing was attended by satisfactory results throughout the 

 year, and the catch of haddocks shows a considerable increase. 



Compared with the preceding year, the crab and lobster fishing was less 

 successful. Crabs appear to be gradually getting scarcer on the Fife 

 coast. There was a good demand for mussels for bait during the year. 

 The quantity dredged is in excess of that for 1905. 



Sparling fishing, which is carried on from Newburgh, was unremunera- 

 tive. 



Forty crews from this district engaged in the early and late summer 

 herring fishings at Shields with fair success, the average earnings per crew 

 being £300. 



At the autumn herring fishing on the English coast 136 crews from 

 this district were engaged. The season proved a highly successful one 

 for steam drifters, but, owing to stormy weather, sailing boats were 

 unable to fish regularly, and their crews experienced rather an unsuccess- 

 ful season. The earnings of the steam drifters varied from £493 to 

 .£1300, while the average earnings of sailing boats amounted to only 

 £200. 



Four crews fished on the west coast of Ireland during the autumn 

 season. Their earnings amounted to £180 per crew. 



With the strong demand for steam drifters the boatbuilding trade is 

 again in a healthy state. All the local builders have secured orders which 

 will keep their workmen employed during the greater part of the 

 present year. 



Four lives were lost during the year in connection with the fisheries. 

 Two fishermen were lost during the winter fishing season — one through 

 falling overboard, the other through being knocked overboard by the 

 sail. A Cellardyke fisherman was washed overboard from a boat employed 

 at great-line fishing, and a St. Monans fisherman fell overboard and was 

 drowned from a boat employed at the summer herring fishing. 



All the barometers, which were supplied by the Meteorological Office 

 to fishing creeks in this district, are in good order and are now iuspected 

 periodically. 



William Keir, 



Fishery Officer. 



Anstruther, ith January 1907, 



Montrose District. 



General Both as regards quantity and value, the aggregate results of the fishing 



Remarks. industry in this district for the year 1906 show a slight improvement on 

 the returns of the preceding year. 



Owing to the enhanced prices of herrings, the value of net-caught fish 

 was considerably greater ; line- caught fish also exhibited an upward 

 tendency, while, on the other hand, the returns of fish taken by trawlers 

 were slightly under those of 1905. 



The value of shell-fish landed was greater than for the past five 

 years. 



