Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

FISHERIES. 73
most successful, the superiority of big boats over small ones having been demonstrated day by
day. There is, however, one drawback to these larger vessels : many of the harbours cannot
take them in, and when becalmed they are too heavy to be propelled by oars, so that there
is great danger of the cargo of herrings not reaching the port in time to be cured. In such
cases steam tugs are sometimes sent out by the curer to aid his boats, and the time is not
distant, probably, when steam-driven boats will become a feature of the herring fishery.
The herring, it may be said, can only be captured when it comes in search of its captors.
In other words, the shoals are only accessible to man at those periods when the fish assemble
in countless numbers to spawn ; and it is a feature of the fishery that the official ' brand ' or
mark of quality is only allotted to ' full ' fish, that is, those herrings which are full of their
spawning material, although at that time the food qualities of the fish are at their poorest, all
the fat-forming products having been drained away to aid in the development of the milt and
roe. The herring fishery in Scotland is chiefly a shore fishery, the boats putting off to sea in
the afternoon, and returning with their cargoes of fish as early next day as possible, so that
ihe cure of the herrings may at once be proceeded with. Some vessels have always, however,
carried on the cure on board in the Dutch style, and others have recently been fitted out to
carry on fishing in a similar fashion. The mode of catching the herring common to the fisher-
folks of Scotland is known as drift-net fishing. A series of nets are joined together on a long
rope, each net being marked by a floating bladder, and the united fabrics are let down into
the water, into which they are sunk by a leaden weight. Thus the nets stand, so to speak,
across the path of the fish like a great perforated wall ; and the herrings, should they strike
against it, are enmeshed by their gills. When all the nets carried by a boat have been placed
in the water, the men go to rest for a few hours, and leave the nets to drift with the tide, in the
hope that when it is time to pull them on board they will be filled with fish. Herring fishing
while it lasts is a laborious occupation, as on some evenings the nets have to be shot more
than once. There is another mode of fishing for herrings in Scotland which is chiefly practised
in Loch Fyne; locally it is known as ' trawling,' but in reality it is ' seining' — a plan of" capture
which is peculiar to pilchard fishing off the coast of Cornwall. By it the fish are surrounded
with nets, and landed at leisure.
The following is a list of the Scottish fishery districts, as arranged by the Fishery Board :
Aberdeen.
Campbeltown.
Fraserburgh.
Leith.
Montrose.
Shetland.
Anstruther.
Cromarty.
Greenock.
Lochbroom.
Orkney.
Stonehaven.
Ballantrae.
Eyemouth.
Helmsdale.
Lochcarron.
Peterhead.
Stornoway.
Banff.
Findhorn.
Inveraray.
Lybster.
Rothesay.
Wick.
Buckie.
Fort William.
The herring fishery, however, is carried on from numerous places other than the above-named
towns — wherever a curer may set up business, or at any little port which is near a railway
station. Wick was at one time the Scottish headquarters of the fishery, but of late years
Fraserburgh and Peterhead have become important centres, the aggregate number of boats
fishing from the three Aberdeenshire districts of Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, and Peterhead during
the season of 1883 being 2056. It has been calculated by R. W. Duff, Esq., M.P., that the
herrings taken every year off the Aberdeenshire coast are of greater value than the annual
rental of that county. A very great number of herrings are now obtained at Shetland. . In 1874
the inspector wrote of the Shetland herring fishery that it had become so small in mark as
scarcely to call for notice, and during that year the fishing throughout the whole of the
Shetland Islands yielded only a total of 1100 barrels; but in 1883 the catch of herrings for
Shetland had increased to 256,487 barrels, or nearly a fourth of all the herrings (1,047,905!
barrels) taken on the East coast of Scotland. The number of boats which fished for herrings
at Shetland in 1883 was 792, being 420 more than in the preceding year. In 1883 the four
herring fishery districts which produced the largest number of barrels of fish cured on shore
were Shetland, 256,487; Fraserburgh, 192, 827-J; Peterhead, 181,434; and Wick, 155,668
barrels. The number of barrels cured on board vessels fitted out for the purpose was 41,899!-.
As regards the number of boats taking part in the herring fishery of Scotland, it cannot
be given with accuracy ; but the fishery officers during a selected week for each district count
the vessels at work, and in that week in 1883 it was found that 8272 were engaged. On some
evenings a very small number only of the fleet venture to sea, and it is only on rare occasions
that the total number of vessels taking part in the fishery in any one year is to be found at
work. The netting employed in the capture of the herring has of late been largely extended,
and is now made of finer materials than thirty or forty years since. From an official Report
on the herring fisheries of Scotland, published in 1878, we ascertain that 'Twenty years ago
a boat carried 24 nets made ot hemp, each net 40 yards long, with 28 or 29 meshes to the
K.