26 Part III. — Twenty -fifth Annual Report 



Year. Cured. Used Fresh. Total Caught. 



1853 4,399 17,150 21,549 



1854 4,335 12,664 16,999 



1855 7,550 16,811 24,361 



1856 10,553 20,870 31,423 



1857 7,910 18,912 26,822 



1858 11,884 17,384 29,268 



1859 10,046 17,118 27,164 



1860 21,520 19,835 41,355 



1861 8,344 11,902 20,246 



1862 46,859 33,034 79,893 



As the Commissioners pointed out, and as the averages above quoted 

 show, the figures indicate a steady increase on the whole in the quantity 

 of herrings taken, with the fluctuations which always occur in fisheries of 

 this nature. 



In the report of a later Commission which enquired into the herring 

 fishery in Scotland, and which was published in 1878, will be found 

 statistics showing the actual catch of herrings in Loch Fyne, i.e., above 

 Skipness Point, over a period of fifty years, from 1827 to 1876. The 

 table was prepared by the late Mr. George Reiach, then the Assistant 

 Inspector of Fisheries, from material which I have not been able to 

 discover or trace, but probably from the books of the districts, which do 

 not now exist. Unfortunately, the statistics are not given in detail for each 

 year of the period, but only the average catch, the minimum catch, and 

 the maximum catch, in decades. The Table is as follows : — 



Average Average Minimum Catch Maximum Catch 



Years. 



No. of 



No. of 



in Decade. 



in Decade. 





Boats. 



Barrels. 



Year. 



Barrels. 



Year. 



Barrels. 



1827-1836 



300 



3,469 



1830 



1,453 



1832 



4,898 



1837-1846 



350 



7,388 



1839 



3,225 



1846 



9,400* 



1847-1856 



396 



19,949 



1852 



10,630 



1851 



32,726 



1857-1866 



558 



33,096 

 25,561 



1864 



16,131 

 6,934 



1862 



79,893 



1867-1876 



479 



1874 



1876 



34,471 



* The total for 1846 does not agree with that in the other Table given above. 



The statistics showed that there was an increase in every succeeding 

 decade except the last, which included the years of least productiveness, 

 as described later. The Assistant Inspector also gave the catches for 

 each of the ten years of this decade, 1867-1876, in Loch Fyne, above 

 Skipness Point, as follows : — 



Year. 



Barrels. 



Year. 



Barrels. 



1867 



40,964 



1S72 



11,358 



1868 



46,813 



1873 



8,166 



1869 



43,088 



1874 



6,934 



1870 



26,716 



1875 



15,097 



1871 



22,005 



1876 



34,471 



Besides the statistics relating to the quantity of herrings caught or 

 cured, another series of tables began to be published annually in the 

 Fishery Reports in 1825, which may be cited as indicating the prosperity 

 of the herring fishery in the districts of the Firth of Clyde. They refer 

 to the number of boats and fishermen employed in what were termed the 

 shore-curing herring and cod and ling fisheries, the number of fish-curers, 



