of the, Fishery Board for Scotland. 



15 



benefit of inshore fisheries, as is apparent from the resolutions 

 passed at various meetings of fishermen, fish-trade associations, 

 and fishery conferences, as well as by the evidence recently led 

 before the Select Committee of the House of Commons. The Board, 

 therefore, again express the hope that the small sum named will 

 be speedily placed at their disposal, and thus enable them to 

 proceed on a large scale with the hatching and rearing of the 

 food fishes. 



Seine-net Fishing for Herrings at Ballantrae Bank. 



Complaints having been made by the fishermen of Ballantrae, 

 Girvan, and other places on the coast of Ayrshire, that the use of 

 the seine-net was injurious to the spring herring fishery at Ballan- 

 trae Bank and off the Ayrshire coast, an inquiry was held on the 

 subject, at Girvan, in January last, by the Chairman, accompanied 

 by Dr Fulton. As a consequence, it was decided by the Board to 

 make a careful examination into the use and action of this net at 

 Ballantrae Bank, with especial reference to the injury it was alleged 

 to do to the herring-spawn and in capturing great numbers of 

 immature fish. The season that followed was unfortunately stormy 

 and very few fish were caught, so that it was not possible to carry 

 on the investigations which the Board desired. An inquiry is, 

 however, being made as to the action of the seine-net in captur- 

 ing immature herrings at other parts of the Clyde, and it is hoped 

 that it will be possible to complete these investigations during the 

 next spawning season at Ballantrae Bank. 



West Coast Expedition of the ( Garland.' 



During the month of August, and part of July, the ' Garland ' 

 was engaged on the West Coast, under the direction of Mr W. 

 Anderson Smith, a member of the Board, in investigating the 

 condition of a number of the sea-lochs north of Oban, and a report 

 on the results will be found in the present Report. Bad weather 

 interfered to some extent with the operations ; but the observations 

 made showed that, with few exceptions, the fish fauna of most of 

 the lochs examined was poor. The main result of the trawling 

 operations proved that no important trawling operations of a mer- 

 cantile character could ever be carried on in those confined waters. 

 Neither the character of the bottom nor the character of the fish 

 obtained was such as to induce trawling vessels to risk their trawls 

 for any possible returns. The fish were, as a rule, of an inferior 

 class, as well as in comparatively inferior condition, and it was 

 found impossible to trawl for any length of time owing to the rough 

 nature of the bottom. In the Hebridean lochs and the waters 

 borderiug thereon, the fish, as well as the entomostracan fauna, 

 were more numerous and of superior character. Bad weather 

 prevented an investigation being made of the great tishiug-banks 



