of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



99 



an opportunity for the examination of the question, a table has been 

 prepared (p. 190) in which are shown the catches in the weeks in 

 which the new moon appeared and in the weeks in which there was a full 

 moon, for the years 1860-1900, for the Inveraray district. It appears 

 from the table that on many occasions the catches in the week of full 

 moon were greater than in the following or preceding week in which the 

 moon was new, but it is evident that the opposite was the rule, since the 

 aggregate quantity taken in the weeks of full moon amounted to 215,152 

 crans, while in the weeks of new moon the aggregate quantity was 

 293,035 crans. Some are of opinion that the tides really influence the 

 catch of herrings, but a more obvious circumstance is that moonlight 

 renders the nets more visible, and this is especially so with the seine-net, 

 so that quantities of herrings escape capture. It sometimes happens, 

 indeed, that on clear moonlight nights the seine-fishers refrain from 

 shooting their nets or even from going to sea, a fact which has no doubt 

 an important bearing on the figures above quoted. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 



Plate I. — Chart of the Clyde area, showing the localities referred to in the 

 various districts. 



Plates II. -IV. — Diagrams showing the annual fluctuations in the catch of 

 herrings in the various districts, and in the Clyde as a whole, with the mean catch 

 for periods. 



Plates V.-XII. — Diagrams showing, on the same scale throughout, the 

 monthly quantities of herrings taken in each year in the various districts, and in 

 the Clyde as a whole. 



