of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



39 



and the neighbourhood of Port Bannatyne. Daring the rest of the year 

 most of the herrings landed were caught at Ardlamont, Skipness, and on 

 the Arran coast, the season closing in the early part of December. The 

 catch in each month was as follows : — 



July. August. September. October. November. December. 

 6,002 8,612 2,548 515 593 145 



In 1891, when the aggregate catch was 11,513 crans, the fishing 

 opened in the week ending 27th June, the Officer reporting that there had 

 not been such a successful fishing in the Kyles of Bute and Loch Riddon 

 for the previous twenty years as in the past week, and conjecturing that 

 the shoal which usually visits Loch Striven had this year entered the 

 Kyles. The catches in Loch Long and Loch Goil were also very good. 

 But in the following week the fishing declined in these localities, and the 

 fishermen turned their attention to the Arran waters, where, until the 

 end of September, most of the herrings were taken, but a small fishing 

 went on in the Kyles and Loch Riddon. In October the most 

 productive localities were off Skipness Point and the Sound of Kilbrennan, 

 and in November also Ardlamont and Karnes Bay. 



As may be seen from the tables, the yield from 1892 to 1901, inclusive, 

 was very small, the annual average for the ten years being 2629 crans, 

 but in 1902 and 1903 there were again great takes of herrings in the 

 district. 



In 1901, when only 1825 crans were landed, the catches were made 

 chiefly about Skipness Point, Inchmarnock, and Ardlamont, it being 

 stated that the fishing in the lochs was a complete failure, and the last 

 herrings of the season were landed on the 12th October. 



In 1902, when 26,049 crans were landed, the information as to the 

 locality of fishing is, unfortunately, defective for the earlier part of the 

 season, but it appears that in August some herrings were obtained in Loch 

 Striven and in the Kyles. At the end of October the bulk of the 

 herrings were taken off Garroch Head, at Inchmarnock, and in the Kyles 

 of Bute. In the week ending 8th November all the herrings 

 landed, 2808 crans, were caught in the Kyles of Bute, 

 where fishermen reported a "fine appearance" of herrings. In 

 the succeeding weeks they were still plentiful in the Kyles and in Loch 

 Riddon, and a very successful fishing was carried on there until the end of 

 January and into the first week of February, when it ceased. In one 

 week in November the 216 boats fishing caught 5219 crans, the totals 

 for the various mouths of the season being as follows : — 



July. August. September. October. November. December. January. 

 624 560 224 2,705 12,344 9,147 7,131 



In 1903 the catch was still greater, viz., 28,361 crans. Up to the end 

 of August the takes were light, the herrings being got chiefly about Skip- 

 ness Point, and very little was got in Lochs Riddon aud Striven. At the 

 beginning of September a large shoal appeared between Inchmarnock and 

 Ardlamont Point, apparently making for the Kyles of Bute, and till the 

 end of September large hauls were got there and between Inchmarnock 

 and Garroch Head. The shoals did not enter the Kyles till about the 

 middle of October, their movements being described as very erratic, a 

 circumstance which was attributed by some to the use of seines in these 

 narrow waters. From the latter part of October and in November the 

 catches fell off, especially those of the seiners, the herrings, though known 



