of the Fishery Board for Scotlcmd, 



51 



February it was stated that as there was a favourable appearance of 

 herrings on the spawning banks the fishing for the rest of the season 

 would be almost entirely by set or trammel- nets ; and on 23rd February 

 it was noted that the herrings had now settled on the banks for spawn- 

 ing. In the week ended 2nd March, 4600 crans were landed, all taken 

 by trammels. The weather then got very stormy, and only 22 crans 

 were landed in the following week, which had been picked off the 

 trammel nets, the rest of the fish being unfit for food, the nets not being 

 hauled for some days. In the middle of March the gannets began to 

 get scarce, a bad sign, and the fishing declined and ended in the last 

 week of March, though 23 crans were taken at the beginning of April at 

 Lendalfoot, near Bennan Head. The quantities landed, and the 

 number of boats fishing in the various weeks, were as follows : — 



January. 



February. 



March. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



31 



95 



165 



4,462 



182 



22 



48 



230 



154 



206 



182 



1,261 



83 



751 



191 



1,690 



178 



474 



73 



174 



182 



4,600 



35 



22 



151 



3,820 











5,070 





10,958 





1,779 



It is to be noted that as a general rule the fishing consists of two 

 parts ; the first is carried on in the neighbourhood of the spawning banks, 

 on the shoals as they are collecting, and the second from a little after the 

 middle of February, among the spawning herrings on the banks. The 

 summer fishing this year was of little importance, the last herrings being 

 taken in the beginning of August ; in November and December a few 

 were got on the Arran and Argyllshire coasts. 



In 1879, when the total for the winter and spring fishing amounted to 

 19,594 crans, the fishing began to the south of the spawning grounds, that 

 is, in the opposite direction to the locality where it opened in the 

 previous year. The herrings in January were caught off Loch Ryan and 

 Corsewall Point by seines and drift-nets. By the beginning of February 

 they were taken along the coast from Corsewall to Ayr, a stretch 

 of 35 miles, and mostly between three and five miles from shore. 

 In the first week of February the heaviest takes were got near the 

 spawning banks off Ballantrae ; drift-nets, seines, and trammels were used 

 this month, and some catches were made off Loch Ryan. In March 

 trammels alone were used on the banks; in the week ended 15th many 

 of the fish were spent, and the best catches were obtained off Bennan 

 Head, to the north of the banks. In this locality and at Lendalfoot, 

 still further north, 414 crans of herrings, mostly spent, were got by 

 trammels early in April, the fishing closing on the 9th of that month. 

 It was thus late in closing, and it may be noted that no herrings were 

 secured in the previous December, the shoals being late in arriving. 

 The weekly quantities and the number of boats engaged were as 

 follows • — 



