16 
Part III. — Tenth Annual Report 
and also, throughout the same period, the number and tonnage of 
the boats, their value, the quantity of netting and lines, and the 
total value of boats and gear per hundred of the fishing population. 
From these tables it appears that while forty- five years ago each 
Scottish fisherman was, on an average, equipped with 1306 square 
yards of herring netting, and 142 fathoms of lines, and had £13, 
4s. 9d. of capital embarked in his boats and gear, in the later 
period he was equipped with 3917 square yards of netting and 
724 fathoms of lines, the capital sunk in his boats and gear being 
£32, 17s. 4d. In 1890-91 the quantity of netting possessed by 
each fisherman was 3667 square yards, the length of lines 768 
fathoms, and the total capital £30, 14s. 9d. 
It is pointed out that this immense development has been almost 
entirely confined to the East Coast, where the quantity of the 
fishing gear has been enormously increased ; and that, while 
previously the fisheries were almost exclusively carried on in the 
Firths and near the coasts, the fishermen are now compelled to go 
further and further to sea, in the search for more productive 
grounds. Comparison is also made between the amount of the 
machinery of capture and the quantity of fish caught, as far as the 
imperfect statistics allow. 
The statistics relating to beam-trawling are separately considered, 
and it is shown that, whilst the number, tonnage, and value of beam- 
trawlers are increasing, there is a decrease in the quantity of prime 
fish caught, and a very serious decrease when compared with the 
tonnage of the vessels. Thus, in the four years for which sta- 
tistics are available, the number of hundred- weights of flat-fish 
captured by beam-trawlers per ton of the vessels' tonnage is as 
follows : — 
1888 1889 1890 1891 
249 193 167 12-4 
The measures taken in other countries, Norway, the United 
States, Newfoundland, and Canada, by the establishment of sea- 
fish hatcheries, are explained, and the hatchery in process of com- 
pletion at Dunbar is described. 
The Bait Fishekies. 
As stated in previous Eeports, the mussel-beds at various parts 
of the Coasts of Scotland are in an unsatisfactory condition, and it 
is upon the supplies of mussel-bait from these beds that line 
fishermen mainly depend. The quantities of Scotch mussels 
landed for the past nine years are as follows : — 
1883 
14,078 tons 
18-88 
12,481 tons 
1884 
12,467 „ 
1889 
9,441 „ 
1885 
12,213 „ 
1890 
9,058 „ 
1886 
13,063 „ 
1891 
11,558 „ 
1887 
13,814 „ 
