A great source of expense and delay to the fishing companies that operate the herring-drifters in the North Sea is the necessity for protracted steaming about in search of shoals of fish. Fishing-boats operating off the. Shetland Islands alone number about 300, and it is estimated that a total of some £90,000 is spent during the season by these boats in reconnoitung the fishing-grounds. Experiments have recently been made by two members of a fishing company in order to apply the principles of aci observation to the discovery of herring-shoals, and th efforts have been so successful that the British Herring Industry Board is considering the possibility of subsidising further tests. It appears that the observers must not only be able pilots but also experienced in practical herring fishing, and with the latter qualification it is possible to pick out not only the shoals of herring breaking the surface of the sea, but also shoals swimming below the surface. The large catches obtained by aircraft-directed boats are astonishing. Two boats thus operated got catches of 87 and 75 crans respectively (a cran is equivalent to 750 fish). A third boat in the same area, relying on her normal look-out, only obtained 30 crans. Another aircraft-directed vessel got 140 crans, while her un-. assisted companion-ship only got 15 crans. Although the manager of one fishing company has claimed that aerial observation has brought thousands of pounds to his fleet, it does not follow that such satisfactory results cán be obtained in all regions and under all conditions, and the Board concludes that the success of these particular. experiments must largely be attributed to the practical fishing experience of the observers. If this new departure is to result in the catching of more fish and even glutting the market on occasion to a greater extent than formerly, it is obvious that without proper \supervision and control aeroplane spotting maj prove rather a disadvantage than an advantage.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.