8 



Part III. — Twenty-fifth Annual Report 



food, growth, reproduction, &c, of fishes were explained and 

 illustrated by specimens and experiments, and the processes of 

 fertilisation demonstrated, as well as the development of the fishes 

 within the egg. 



On this question of the technical and scientific education of 

 fishermen many or most other European countries are in advance 

 of ourselves, special schools being devoted to the work, directly or 

 indirectly under the patronage of the State. It may be mentioned 

 that in the Technical College which it has been decided to establish 

 at Aberdeen provision will be made for the instruction of those 

 connected with the fishing industry in various branches of know- 

 ledge bearing upon that industry, such as the preservation of fish 

 and the utilisation of fish-products. 



Investigations on the Herring Fisheries in the Firth of 



Clyde. 



During the last few years, as mentioned in previous Annual 

 Eeports, an enquiry has been in progress with respect to the 

 herring fisheries in the Firth of Clyde, and especially in Loch Fyne. 

 Those fisheries, like the herring fishery on other parts of the coast, 

 are subject to considerable fluctuations from year to year ; and from 

 the circumstance that they are often carried on in comparatively 

 confined and narrow waters, and by several methods of fishing, they 

 have given rise at various times of scarcity to controversies 

 regarding the modes, seasons, or places of fishing. Of late years 

 such complaints have been somewhat common in Loch Fyne, owing 

 to the failure of the fishery in that important loch, the catch 

 having gradually declined from 1897, when the maximum 

 quantity for any year was recorded, to a low point in 1905 and 

 1906. 



The object of the enquiry was to ascertain the nature and extent 

 of the annual fluctuations, and, as far as possible, their causes, and 

 the movements of the shoals of herrings into and out of Loch Fyne. • 

 The scheme of investigation included (1) a study of all the statistics 

 of former years that were available ; (2) periodical observations on 

 the temperature of the water, and the "plankton" or floating 

 organisms, at different depths ; (o) the marking and liberation of 

 herrings when possible, with the view of discovering their migrations; 

 and (4) the examination of large numbers of samples of herrings 

 from various parts of the Clyde, to determine especially the condition 

 of the reproductive organs at different periods and the rapidity 

 with which these organs develop and become fully mature. An 

 investigation of this kind is difficult under the most favourable 

 circumstances and must necessarily cover several successive 

 seasons ; and since the range of movement of a shoal of herrings on 

 any part of the coast is at present unknown, it was desired that 

 the investigation might cover at least the whole of the sea area of 

 the Clyde, and in particular the channels by which the herrings 

 enter and leave Loch Fyne. With the means at disposal it was, 

 however, found impossible to extend the periodical observations 

 in this way, which have therefore been limited to Loch Fyne. 



