of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 
181 
The gradual but enormous increase in the apparatus of capture may, as 
with the boats and capital, be conveniently exhibited in relation to the 
number of fishermen. In Table IV. I have given these particulars. 
From this table we may see how the apparatus of capture per head of 
the fishing population has increased. In 1844 each hundred fishermen 
possessed 130,598 square yards of netting, and 14,235 fathoms of line. 
In the period 1885-89 the same number of fishermen possessed 391,674 
square yards of netting, and 72,373 fathoms of line. Thus, about half a 
century ago, each Scotch fisherman was equipped for his duties on the sea 
with 1,306 square yards of net and 142 fathoms of line, while in 1885-89 
he was equipped with 3,917 square yards of netting and 724 fathoms of 
lines. Last year, the number of fathoms of lines belonging to each fisher- 
man and boy was nearly 769. 
The first column, showing the number of herring boats belonging to each 
100 fishermen, is instructive. It will be seen that, from the period 
1865-69, the ratio of the number of herring boats to fishermen has pro- 
gressively decreased This, however, is accounted for by the circumstance 
that the boats began then to fish in greater and greater numbers at dis- 
tances from shore, and increased greatly in size, tonnage, and value. The 
increase in the quantity of netting per boat is shown in the last column. In 
1855-59 each herring boat, on the average, possessed 12,548 square yards 
of netting, while in 1890-91 each such boat possessed more than double 
this quantity, viz., 25,345 square yards, and the increase between the 
periods referred to was continuous and progressive. The length of lines per 
boat cannot be ascertained with anything like accuracy. The average per 
herring boat refers to the whole of Scotland ; but here, also, it could be 
shown that the increase on the East Coast has been very much greater than 
on the West. From information obtained from the Fishery Officers, it may 
be said that a first-class herring boat on the East Coast ranges up to 38 
or 39 tons, and carries during the summer fishing from about 35,000 to 
over 60,000 square yards of netting. In the Anstruther district the 
maximum length of great fishing lines per boat is, at the present day, 
15,750 fathoms, and the average 12,600 fathoms ; while, thirty years ago, 
the length was only 5400 fathoms. 
Beam-Traivl Vessels. 
Beam-trawling has been practised for a considerable number of years at 
certain parts of the Scottish coast, and particularly in the Firths — the 
Firth of Forth, the Moray Firth, the Clyde, and the Solway. But up to 
about ten or twelve years ago it was prosecuted only intermittently by 
fishing boats engaged at other times in other work. At the period men- 
tioned the introduction of steam-trawl vessels may be said to have revolu- 
tionised this mode of fishing. Statistics are only available since the year 
1883, and they are as follows : — 
