xii 
Ninth Annual Report of the 
Closed second 
week in 
September. 
Number of 
boats engaged. 
Prices of 
herrings. 
630 boats left 
on beach. 
Number of 
boats and 
trawlers built. 
Productiveness 
of inshore 
grounds on 
East Coast. 
General 
fishing-ground. 
East Coast 
catch le?s than 
in 1889. 
Great improve- 
ment in the 
Shetland 
fishing. 
Quality of 
herrings. 
Large takes 
landed. 
much energy till about the second week of September, whsn it 
practically closed, although a few boats continued to fish a little 
longer. The fleet employed at the East Coast stations, including 
Orkney and Shetland, numbered 3,464 boats, being a decrease of 
529 boats as compared with the preceding year. Of this fleet, 
627 boats were eogaged to curers at fixed rates of lis. to 163. 
a cran. The remainder sold their catches daily at the current 
prices, which ranged from 5s. to 203. a cran, the average for the 
season being about 12s. 3d. per four baskets of the new measure- 
ment, the capacity of which is fully 25 per cent, less than in 
previous years. Last year 630 sea-worthy flshing-boats were left 
on the beach — 238 on the East Coast, and 392 on the West Coast, 
being 59 more than in the former year. There were 162 boats 
built during the year, of which 54 were first class, 91 second class, 
and 17 third class. £8,517, lOs. was lent to crofter fishermen to 
buy boats and gear. Twenty-three trawl vessels were also built, 
9 of which were for England. 
The inshore waters on the East Coast were much more pro- 
ductive than during the preceding year. Herrings were found in 
greatest abundance 3 to 8 miles offshore, between Stonehaven and 
Orkney. Large takes of from 90 to 154 crans were got early in 
the season between the Pentland Firth and Cromarty, at from 1 
to 4 miles offshore. The general fishing-ground ranged from 1 to 
40 miles seaward, the best individual takes, varying from 90 to 
163 crans, being got from 2 to 10 miles distant. The quantity of 
herrings landed upon the East Coast showed a decrease, as com- 
pared with 1889, of 14,566 crans. In Shetland district, the quan- 
tity landed in 1890 was 73,644 crans, against 28,622 crans in the 
preceding year. The fishing commenced on 15th June, bub 
towards the end of that month it became restricted, owing to 
the presence of dogfi.ih on the north and west side of Shetland. 
These appeared in such large numbers at the Unst fishing-ground 
that the fishermen immediately gave up fishing. About the end 
of July, however, a very successful fishing commenced at Lerwick 
and other east side stations, and continued until the end of August. 
At that date heavy takes were landed, and the fishermen 
experiencing difficulty in disposing of them, owing to the curers' 
inability to overtake the curing of the fish, several hundred 
crans had to be sold for manure, or thrown into the sea. Immense 
shoals of herrings were still to be found between Sumburgh Head 
and Whalsey, while scarcely any dogfish were seen. The most 
striking feature of the East Coast fishing of 1890 was the superior 
quality of the herrings during the first half of the season, which 
was about equal to that of the catch of 1888. The Shetland 
herrings, however, were considerably beneath the average quality, 
During the height of the season there was a large number of 
takes of from 100 to 152 crans, while one boat landed a take of 
163 crans; but the individual takes seemed larger in comparison 
with those of previous years owing to the decrease of one-fifth on 
the new measure. In one or other of the districts on both coasts 
herrings were landed during every month of the year. 
The quantity of herrings landed on the West Coast amounted to 
283,093^ crans, or 89,382^ crans more than in 1889, the large3t 
