52 



Part III. — Twenty -fifth Annual Report 



January. 



February. 



March. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



56 



90 



304 



104 



204 



1,220 



188 



1,334 



125 



410 



210 



921 



290 



3,078 



251 



1,755 



199 



1,783 



304 



3,428 



251 



4,007 



98 



1,050 





7,930 





. 6,276 





4,974 



The summer fishing on the coast was poor, most of the boats fishing at 

 Arran and on the Argyllshire coast. About 18th or 19th October a 

 large shoal of herrings entered Loch By an, but Tent out in a day or two 

 before many were caught ; very few herrings were taken in November, 

 but an unexpectedly early commencement of the winter fishing was made 

 orf Loch Ryan on 11th December, and during that month 4085 crans were 

 secured there about two to five miles from the coast. In January, 1880, 

 the fishing continued in that quarter, extending towards the end of the 

 month from Corse wall to Ballantrae. In the week ended 21st February 

 the herrings were settling on the spawning banks ; at the beginning of 

 March the best takes were got on the banks by seines, after which 

 the trammels were too crowded for them, and the seiners left. The 

 fishing went on to the end of March, and the enormous quantity of 

 35,277 crans (about 123,570 cwts, or more than 35,000,000 herrings) 

 were secured, which, at the prices then ruling, were worth considerably 

 over £70,000. The weekly returns are these : — 



December. 



January. 



February. 



March. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



Boats. 



Crans. 



46 

 186 

 202 



288 

 2,722 

 1,075 



290 

 310 

 364 

 19 



499 

 2,053 

 2,624 

 24 



307 

 210 

 185 

 302 



2,928 

 512 

 558 



2,520 



127 

 253 

 267 

 ? 



829 

 4,806 

 4,231 

 9,586 





4,085 





5,200 





6,518 





19,452 



The summer fishing, up to the end of July, was successful on the 

 Ayrshire coast this year, especially off Girvan, but the herrings dis- 

 appeared in August ; in October some were taken in the middle of the 

 Clyde, and at the end of the month at Loch Ryan ; in November, and still 

 more in December the takes in that neighbourhood increased, and it is 



