| Date. | Boats out. | Average crans. | Total daily catch. | General Average. | Total catch for season. | Quality. | Weather. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 3 | 20 | 2 | 40 | 0 | 40 | Excellent | Mild. |
| ” 4 | 30 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 70 | Do. | Wet. |
| ” 5 | 60 | ½ | 30 | 0 | 100 | Do. | Damp and mild. |
| ” 8 | 50 | ½ | 25 | 0 | 125 | Do. | Mild. |
| ” 9 | 70 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 135 | Good | Gentle breeze. |
| ” 10 | 70 | 1½ | 105 | 0 | 240 | Do. | Breezy. |
| ” 11 | 120 | 2 | 60 | ¼ | 300 | Do. | Cold and breezy. |
| ” 12 | 150 | 7 | 1,050 | 1¼ | 1,350 | Do. | Fine. |
| ” 15 | 180 | 1 | 180 | 1¼ | 1,530 | Mixed | Mild. |
| ” 16 | 170 | 1 | 170 | 1½ | 1,700 | Good | Clear—strong tides. |
| ” 17 | 150 | 1 | 150 | 1¾ | 1,850 | Do. | Wet. |
| ” 18 | 100 | 1 | 100 | 2 | 1,950 | Do. | Thick and wet. |
| ” 19 | 50 | 1 | 50 | 2 | 2,000 | Do. | Rough. |
| ” 22 | 300 | 3 | 900 | 3 | 2,900 | Do. | Mild. |
| ” 23 | 600 | 2 | 1,200 | 4 | 4,100 | Excellent | Do. |
| ” 24 | 700 | 1 | 700 | 4½ | 4,800 | Do. | Changeable. |
| ” 25 | 250 | ½ | 125 | 4½ | 4,925 | Do. | Very rough. |
| ” 26 | 700 | 1 | 700 | 5 | 5,625 | Do. | Mild. |
| ” 29 | 950 | 0 | 150 | 5 | 5,775 | Do. | Mild and wet. |
| ” 30 | 900 | ½ | 450 | 6 | 6,225 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 31 | 950 | 1 | 950 | 6½ | 7,175 | Do. | Rough. |
| Aug. 1 | 250 | 2 | 500 | 7 | 7,675 | Do. | Mild—heavy sea. |
| ” 2 | 1000 | 2 | 2,000 | 8½ | 9,675 | Mixed | Mild and wet. |
| ” 5 | 150 | 1 | 150 | 9 | 9,825 | Good | Rough. |
| ” 6 | 70 | 3 | 210 | 9 | 10,035 | Spent | Do. |
| ” 7 | 1100 | 6 | 6,600 | 15 | 16,635 | ⅓ spent | Mild. |
| ” 8 | 1100 | 4 | 4,400 | 19 | 21,035 | ¼ spent | Thick and rough. |
| ” 9 | 700 | 6 | 4,200 | 23 | 25,235 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 12 | 1120 | 3 | 3,360 | 26 | 28,595 | Good | Breezy. |
| ” 13 | 1120 | 8 | 8,960 | 34 | 37,555 | Excellent | Thick, wet, and mild. |
| ” 14 | 1120 | 4 | 4,480 | 38 | 42,035 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 15 | 1100 | 11 | 12,210 | 48 | 54,245 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 16 | 1000 | 8 | 8,000 | 56 | 62,245 | ¼ spent | Do. |
| ” 19 | 1000 | 0 | 50 | 56 | 62,295 | Excellent | Strong gale. |
| ” 20 | 800 | ½ | 400 | 56½ | 62,695 | Do. | Gentle breeze—cold. |
| ” 21 | 800 | ¼ | 200 | 57 | 62,895 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 22 | 900 | ½ | 450 | 57 | 63,345 | Do. | Calm and clear. |
| ” 23 | 800 | ¼ | 200 | 57½ | 63,545 | Do. | Very wet and calm. |
| ” 26 | 1120 | 2 | 2,240 | 59 | 65,785 | ¼ spent | Mild. |
| ” 27 | 1120 | 5 | 5,600 | 64 | 71,385 | ⅓ spent | Breezy. |
| ” 28 | 1120 | 1 | 1,120 | 65 | 72,505 | Good | Clear and mild. |
| ” 29 | 1100 | ¾ | 800 | 65½ | 73,305 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 30 | 1000 | ½ | 500 | 66 | 73,805 | Do. | Do. |
| Sept. 2 | 1050 | ½ | 525 | 66½ | 74,330 | Excellent | Breezy. |
| ” 3 | 20 | ½ | 10 | 66½ | 74,340 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 4 | 20 | ½ | 10 | 66½ | 74,350 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 5 | 100 | 1 | 100 | 66½ | 74,450 | Do. | Mild. |
| ” 6 | 600 | ¼ | 150 | 67 | 74,600 | Do. | Do. |
| ” 9 | 220 | 4 | 880 | 68 | 75,480 | ¼ spent | Do. |
| ” 10 | 300 | 10 | 3,000 | 71 | 78,480 | Good | Do. |
| ” 11 | 400 | 20 | 8,000 | 77 | 86,480 | ⅓ spent | Do. |
| ” 12 | 400 | 10 | 4,000 | 81 | 90,480 | ¼ spent | Breezy. |
| ” 13 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 81 | 90,492 | Good | Wind and rain. |
| ” 16 | 200 | ¾ | 160 | 81 | 90,652 | Do. | Mild. |
The quantity of netting now employed in the herring-fishery is enormous, and is increasing from year to year. It has been strongly represented by Mr. Cleghorn, and others who hold his views, that the herring-fishery is on the decline; that if the fish were as plentiful as in former years, the increased amount of netting would capture an increased number of herrings. It is certain that, with a growing population and an increasing facility of transport, we are able to use a far larger quantity of sea produce now than we could do fifty years ago, when we were in the pre-Stephenson age. If, with our present facilities for the transport of fish to inland towns, Great Britain had been a Catholic instead of a Protestant country, having the example of the French fisheries before us, I have no hesitation in saying that by this time our fisheries would have been completely exhausted—that is, supposing no remedial steps had been taken to guard against such a contingency. Were we compelled to observe Lent with Catholic rigidity, and had there been numerous fasts or fish-days, as there used to be in England before the Reformation, the demand, judging from our present ratio, would have been greater than the sea could have borne. Interested parties may sneer at these opinions; but, notwithstanding, I maintain that the pitcher is going too often to the well, and that some day soon it will come back empty.
I have always been slow to believe in the inexhaustibility of the shoals, and can easily imagine the overfishing, which some people pooh-pooh so glibly, to be quite possible, especially when supplemented by the cod and other cannibals so constantly at work, and so well described by the Lochfyne Commission; not that I believe it possible to pick up or kill every fish of a shoal; but, as I have already hinted, so many are taken, and the economy of the shoal so disturbed, that in all probability it may change its ground or amalgamate with some other herring colony. I shall be met here by the old argument, that “the fecundity of fish is so enormous as to prevent their extinction,” etc. etc. But the certainty of a fish yielding twenty thousand eggs is no surety for these being hatched, or if hatched, of their escaping the dangers of infancy, and reaching the market as table food. I watch the great shoals at Wick with much interest, and could wish to have been longer acquainted with them. How long time have the Wick shoals taken to grow to their present size?—what size were the shoals when the fish had leave to grow without molestation?—how large were the shoals when first discovered?—and how long have they been fished? are questions which I should like to have answered. As it is, I fear the great Wick fishery must come some day to an end. In the course of twenty-seven seasons as many as 1,275,027 barrels of herring have been caught off Wick (each barrel containing 700 fish); and in all probability as many more fish were killed by the nets, and never taken ashore. When the Wick fishery first began the fisherman could carry in a creel on his back the nets he required; now he requires a cart and a good strong horse! Leaving out one of the twenty-seven seasons (the first), and dividing the remaining twenty-six into two periods of thirteen each, we find the aggregate of the boats, the average crans to each, and the aggregate total for the
| Boats. | Average Crans. | Total Crans. | |
| 1st thirteen years, | 10,202 | 941 | 735,318 |
| 2d thirteen years, | 13,522 | 519 | 539,719 |
During the first of these periods each boat carried about twenty-five nets, spun and worked in the county in a homely way; during the second period each had from thirty to thirty-five nets, machine-made, the twine being very even and fine, and far larger and deeper, a great many of them being of cotton, and far superior in their catching power to those of the first period; and yet, with 3320 additional boats carrying perhaps 200,000 more nets, larger, finer, and deeper than in the first period, we took 195,609 barrels fewer fish in the second than in the first thirteen years. During a late Wick fishing, a remarkable feature was the great disparity in the catch by individual boats. Although the average per boat over the whole fleet is set down as about eighty-three crans, yet half the boats do not average forty crans. As a rule, the boats that take the most fish are those with the longest, finest, and deepest drifts. In fact, the whole argument just amounts to this—that if the fish are as plentiful as ever, then double the quantity of netting ought to take double the quantity of herrings. During a late Wick season (1863), the entire fleet was only at sea twelve nights, and the average per night to each boat was only three crans. The Northern Ensign, a local journal, has over and over again asserted that the fish are as numerous as ever; but that, in consequence of the crowd of boats, there is not room to capture them. In answer to this I may note, that on six different evenings of the season, when the boats out ranged from two to six hundred, the take did not average half a cran per boat. It may be likewise stated that 604 boats, in the year 1820, with a greatly less amount of netting, took as many fish as have been taken this season (1863) although the boats fishing were 480 above the season of 1820. The average capture per boat in 1820, with the limited netting, was 148 crans, whilst the average for 1863 was only 85 crans! How is it possible to reconcile such great differences?
I conclude this part of the herring question by one other illustration. In 1862 the aggregate sailings—i.e. number of voyages—of the Wick boats for the season was 28,755, and the total catch 92,004 barrels; while this season (1863) the Wick boats have only taken 89,972 barrels in 32,630 voyages; and all over the country, so far as I know—and I have made extensive inquiries—the tale is the same, a failure in the herring-fishery. Perhaps the best plan is at once to exhaust the figures of the subject while we are discussing it. As to the Wick July fishing, the following figures are illustrative of two different periods of five years each:—
| Year. | Barrels. | Year. | Barrels. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1843 | 14,000 | 1859 | 2,500 |
| 1844 | 15,615 | 1860 | 12,850 |
| 1845 | 22,578 | 1861 | 5,821 |
| 1846 | 30,350 | 1862 | 7,173 |
| 1847 | 15,442 | 1863 | 8,517 |
| 97,985 | 36,861 |
The figures of the greatest month of the fishery—viz. August—are as follow:—
| Year. | Barrels. | Year. | Barrels. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1843 | 69,640 | 1859 | 80,853 |
| 1844 | 72,585 | 1860 | 86,120 |
| 1845 | 66,702 | 1861 | 73,580 |
| 1846 | 61,450 | 1862 | 65,321 |
| 1847 | 59,528 | 1863 | 46,000 |
| 329,905 | 351,874 |