of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



17 



further, it sometimes happens that large quantities of small or unsaleable 

 herrings are taken by it. This has been often a subject of complaint by 

 fishermen pursuing other methods, and especially by those using the drift- 

 net. 



The drift-net and the set-net act in a different way. They are both 

 gill-nets, the herrings being caught by the gills as they endeavour to pass 

 through the meshes. The drift-net floats in the water, usually at or near 

 the surface, but in Loch Fyne, particularly in the deep upper loch, it may 

 be used by lengthening the buoy ropes in very considerable depths, as far 

 down as sixty fathoms. A "train" or "fleet" of drift-nets may contain 

 from ten to eighteen or more nets, and from the fact that the meshes are 

 larger, running from about 31 to 34 in a yard, and that Ihey stand open, 

 the smaller class of herrings escapes capture, and the size of the herrings 

 caught is more uniform as a rule than with the seine-ret. The set-net or 

 ground-net fishes in the same manner as the drift-net, but it is anchored 

 to the bottom. It consists essentially of a strip of drift-net, sixty to eighty 

 meshes deep, the upper rope corked and the lower weighted, so that it 

 stands as a wall of netting rising up from near the bottom. At Ballantrae, 

 where it is chiefly employed, the nets are left in the water over-night, and 

 visited each morning when the weather permits, the herrings being 

 removed and the net again set. It is an effective method on a spawning 

 ground, as Ballantrae Bank. 



One of the chief complaints wdiich have been made in the past among 

 the herring fishermen in Loch Fyne refers to the use of the seine-net, or 

 so-called "herring trawl." As already stated, this method is believed to 

 have been introduced about 1838, and it was so successful that within a 

 few years it was very commonly employed, and disputes soon arose 

 between the "trawlers" or seiners and the ordinary drift-net fishermen. 

 The latter alleged that the seine-net was injurious by destroying large 

 quantities of small and immature herrings, by dispersing the " eyes " or 

 shoals of herrings entering Loch Fyne or other narrow waters, and by 

 disturbing and destroying the spawn when used over spawning grounds. 

 This view was supported by the fish-merchants and accepted by the 

 authorities, and in 1851 an Act of Parliament was passed prohibiting the 

 employment of the seine for catching herrings, and recognising the drift- 

 net as the only legal method of capture.* Great difficulty was found in 

 enforcing this Act, and the seine-net fishermen endeavoured to evade it by 

 all the means in their power. It is clear from the reports of the Fishery 

 Officers, as well as from the official enquiries held later, that seining 

 continued year after year, and was sometimes, indeed, the method by which 

 the greater quantity of herrings was obtained, especially after 1854, when 

 the superintending gunboat was withdrawn owing to the outbreak of war 

 with Russia. It is not surprising that this should have been the case, 

 because again and again it is recorded that while the drifters were 

 obtaining a few hundred herrings the "trawlers'* were making large hauls 

 and large profits, their fish sometimes selling (1857) for as much as 

 28s. 6d. the "long" hundred, of 120, or nearly threepence each. The 

 headquarters of the seiners was Tarbert, though many seines were also 

 employed by Ardrishaig boats, while at Inveraray and in the other parts 

 of the upper loch the drift alone was used. In 1858, and again in 1859, 

 herrings were abundant in Upper Loch Fyne, and on the seiners from the 

 lower loch making their way thither, the drift-net fishermen declared 

 their intention of enforcing the Act against the use of the seine-net, and 

 for this purpose took firearms on board their boats. In 1860 another 



* "An Act to Amend the Acts relating to the British White Herring Fishery," 

 14 and 15 Vict., c. 26, s. 6. 



