Annual Report

of the

Fishery Board for Scotland

Being for the Year 1927

Presented by the Secretary of State for Scotland to Parliament
by Command of His Majesty

EDINBURGH:

PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE

To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: 120 George Street, Edinburgh; Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; York Street, Manchester; I St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff;

15 Donegall Square West, Belfast;

or through any Bookseller.

1928

Price 2s. Net

Cmd. 3126.

CONTENTS.

REPORT

CHAPTER I.-INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II.-MEANS OF CAPTURE AND PERSONS ENGAGED

15

17

19

22

24

25

25

...

V. SHARE SYSTEM IN SCOTTISH FISHING VESSELS

VI. REPORTS BY INSPECTORS OF SALMON FISHERIES

:

VIII. CHAIRMEN AND CLERKS TO SALMON DISTRICT BOARDS ...

FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

SIR JOHN GILMOUR, Bart., D.S.O., M.P.,

His Majesty's Secretary of State for Scotland.

FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND,

SIR,

EDINBURGH, May 1928.

In terms of the Act 45 and 46 Vict., c. 78, we, the Fishery Board for Scotland, have the honour to present this, our Forty-sixth Annual Report, being for the year 1927 :

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

The year under review was one of varied but, on the whole, only moderate success in the Scottish fishing industry. The trawling section of the industry appears, however, to have now almost reached a sound economic basis; the herring fishery is somewhat further away from that position, and while the results of the year's operations were in themselves fairly satisfactory, they were not sufficient to repair the losses caused by the industrial upheaval of 1926.

The year's herring fishing operations started as usual with the winter fishing on the north and north-west coasts, but so far from gaining any financial benefits therefrom, the majority of the participating vessels finished the season in debt, for although fish were plentiful and "klondykers klondykers" bought freely for the German market, the quality was so poor that prices hardly ever rose to a remunerative level throughout the season.

It was therefore in no very sanguine spirit that fishermen entered upon the summer fishing, and the experience of the earlier part of the season was little calculated to raise their hopes. The fish taken during the opening weeks were unsuitable