It will be seen from these figures that, even in the great herring month of August, notwithstanding the large increase of boats and nets, a decreased quantity has been taken during the last two years. To understand this better, the boats in the first period were 4345, and in the second period 5489, and in this last period the boats had vastly increased their netting, as many as 55,775 more nets having been added. Now, it stands to reason that if the herrings were as numerous as ever in the second period, the take should have been, through the mere increase of boats, not counting the addition to the amount of netting, 417,916 barrels.
The September fishing has only been prosecuted of late years, for the very good reason that in former times all the herring required were caught in July and August; during the last two years great efforts have been made to institute a September fishery, and a great force was brought to bear on the races of herring then coming to maturity, with what result the following figures will show:—
| Year. | Barrels. | Year. | Barrels. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1843 | 4,100 | 1859 | 9,846 |
| 1844 | 2,000 | 1860 | 504 |
| 1845 | 2,880 | 1861 | 6,194 |
| 1846 | 900 | 1862 | 20,000 |
| 1847 | 9,100 | 1863 | 30,000 |
| 18,980 | 66,544 |
The September fishery at Wick will have its day like the July and August fisheries.
One more table will finish these statistics; it represents the averages of the Wick fishery for two periods—one for seven years, ending in 1824; the other for the seven years ending with the season of 1863:—
| Years. | Boats. | Crans per Boat. | Years. | Boats. | Crans per Boat. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1818 | 482 | 136 | 1857 | 1100 | 73 |
| 1819 | 609 | 133 | 1858 | 1061 | 80 |
| 1820 | 604 | 148 | 1859 | 1094 | 79 |
| 1821 | 595 | 123 | 1860 | 1080 | 92 |
| 1822 | 595 | 91 | 1861 | 1180 | 87 |
| 1823 | 555 | 123 | 1862 | 1122 | 82 |
| 1824 | 625 | 123½ | 1863 | 1084 | 79 |
| 4065 | 877½ | 7721 | 572 |
I shall not expend further argument on these figures, they speak too plainly to require illustration.
The state of the case as between the supply of fish and the extent of netting has been focused into the annexed diagram, which shows at a glance how the question stands.