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Part III. — Tenth Annual Report 
regard to loans for fishing boats and gear, it is stated that, since the assets 
of the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund began to be administered by the 
Inspectors, seventeen years ago, loans have been made amounting to 
£104,297. The arrears are only £3613, 10s. 9d., and of these, 
£2590, 9s. lid. are 'recoverable' — the amount 'irrecoverable' for the 
seventeen years being £1023, 0s. 10d., or less than 1 per cent. Another 
charitable fund administered by the Inspectors is the Sea and Coast 
Fisheries Fund. Since 1884 loans to the amount of £40,223 have been 
made. The amount of ' bad debts ' is only £9, 6s. 8d. The Inspectors 
point to these figures as evidencing the honesty of the Irish fisher-folk ; 
and state that these funds have been the means of keeping alive the 
fishing industry on the western seaboard. 
Since the date of the previous Annual Report, a number of bye-laws 
have been passed, prohibiting steam trawling in certain bays and terri- 
torial waters. 
Various tables and particulars are given of the quantities and values 
of the fish landed, so far as they are indicated by the statistics. One 
feature is noticeable, namely, the number of English, Scotch, and Foreign 
boats that take part in the Irish fisheries. Thus, in the Spring herring 
fishing, 206 boats from the Isle of Man, England, and Scotland, were 
engaged (the Scotch numbering 161), along with 1086 native boats. In 
the mackerel fishing the proportion of ' foreign ' boats was much greater. 
Of a total of 650 boats engaged, 373, or more than half, were stranger or 
foreign, viz., 289 English and Manx, 16 Scotch, and 68 French. The 
importance of the Irish mackerel fishery is evident from the figures 
of the quantities and value of the fish caught. Last year the quantity 
was 308, 581 cwts., realising £149,617. In the previous year the quantity 
was 501,943 cwts., valued at £218,672. The quantity of herring landed 
was 102,920 cwts., valued at £39,327. The Inspectors give instructions 
for the curing of mackerel, which they intend to publish separately in 
pamphlet form ; and an expert from Norway was engaged to give instruc- 
tions in mackerel curing during the season of 1891. The Report contains 
other statistical tables, reports from the coastguard divisions, &c, and 
also deals with the salmon fishings. 
II. CANADA. 
Two reports have been published by the Canadian Fisheries Depart- 
ment referring to the year 1890 ; one dealing with the financial statements 
for the fiscal year and general questions,* and the other with operations 
in fish-breeding. t A third report, dealing with the statistics of the 
fisheries, appears later. The total expenditure for the fiscal year was 
328,748 dols., the appropriations having been 383,300 dols. Of this 
amount, 39,126 dols. was spent in connection with fish-breeding opera- 
tions, 64,434 dols. in the fisheries protection service, and 149,999 dols. as 
fishing bounties. The revenue of the department amounted to 56,976 
dols., arising from rents, license fees, and fines. The bounty system 
appears to be of an elaborate nature ; the payments are made under an 
Act of 1882, entituled, 'An Act to Encourage the Development of the Sea 
' Fisheries and the Building of Fishing Vessels,' which authorises an 
expenditure annually of 150,000 dols. (about £31,000) for this purpose. 
* Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries, Dominion of Canada, for the year 
1890, Ottawa, 1891. 
t Report on Fish-breeding Operations in the Dominion of Canada, 1890, Ottawa, 
1891. 
