of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
207 
Unst to Sumburgh Head. Its headquarters is Lerwick, and of recent years 
the fishing is being concentrated there more and more. A commencement 
is made about the 20th of July, and the fishing is generally continued till 
the middle of September. Of 310 boats engaged in 1891, at least three- 
fourths were owned and manned by natives ; and the rest, with one or two 
exceptions, were from Manx or Irish ports. 
The herring-nets used by the Shetlanders are GO yards long and 18 
score (of meshes) deep ; and of these each boat carries from 35 to 40. The 
few 'sixerns ' that are still used carry from 12 to 15 nets. 
The fishing grounds extend about 40 miles seawards, but most of the 
herrings are caught 10 or 12 miles off the land, in a south-easterly direction 
from Lerwick. 
For both the early and late herring fishings the boats have always 
hitherto been engaged at a fixed rate per cran ; the system of selling daily 
by auction has not yet been introduced into Shetland. 
Mackerel are often plentiful about the North Isles and other parts of 
Shetland in the months of July and August. No regular fishing is carried 
on, but hauls of as high as 8 or 10 crans have been got in herring-nets. 
The mackerels are usually very large and rather coarse. On account of 
the long distance from any fresh market, they are of little value, and 
sometimes go for manure. Mackerel curing, which has grown to be an 
important industry about the south-west of Ireland, has not been tried 
here. 
4. Sillock Fishing. 
c Sillock ' fishing in Shetland deserves a passing notice. The term 
' sillock ' is applied to the young saithe in the second year of their growth, 
when they form a considerable part of the food of the Shetland fishermen 
during the winter months. They are caught in various ways, but chiefly 
on 4 flies ' or in * pock ' or hand-nets. The first of these methods needs no 
description, except that the flies used are of white feathers. The f poek- 
* nets'* are woven in the shape of a trout-landing-net, round stout iron 
rings of from 4 to 6 feet in diameter. Bait may be attached as a lure, but 
is seldom necessary, as cormorants are constantly hunting the sillock 
shoals into narrow creeks. There the fishermen lower their nets to the 
bottom, suspended from short stout rods, and as soon as a sufficient 
number of sillocks come above the net it is hauled up, the fish in their 
haste to escape usually going down into the net, instead of over it. From 
1 qr. to 1 cwt. may thus be taken at a haul ; and skiff loads are daily 
retailed at Lerwick Pier during the winter at about Id. a gallon. As 
an article of food they are of no market value, except in Shetland, but a 
good many are converted into manure in the local factories • and in some 
places they are caught solely for their livers, from which oil is extracted. 
From Skerries 200 barrels of sillock oil have been exported in one 
winter. The waste of fish thus caused must have been enormous. 
Hindrances to Fishing. 
Dog-fish. — The greatest hindrance to the success of the herring fishing 
about Shetland has hitherto been the visits to these shores of large shoals 
of dog-fish, that come with almost annual regularity. They always 
appear first on the west side of the islands, and as a rule gradually spread 
* These 'pock-nets' are sometimes used for the capture of herrings. In the 
autumn shoals of herrings are driven by saithes into narrow voes, where they are 
packed so close that fishermen fill their small boats by means of these nets. Occa- 
sionally baskets are used. 
