And Inland Fisheries
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Roinn Tailte (Department of Lands) FO-ROINN IASCAIGH (Fisheries Division) REPORT ON THE SEA AND INLAND FISHERIES FOR '£RE YEAR 1956, incorporating Statistics of the Capture of Salmon, Sea Trout and Eels, and certain scientific papers relating to fisheries. DUBLIN! PUBLISHED llY THE STATIONERY OF1'10E, To be purchased from the GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS SALE OFFICE& G.P.0. AROADE, DUBLIN, or through any Bookseller, Price: Fonr Shillings (Pr. 4294). Roinn Tailte (Department of Lands) FO-ROINN IASCAIGH (Fisheries Division) REPORT ON THE SEA AND INLAND FISHERIES FOR THE YEAR 1956, inoorporating Statistics of the Capture of Salmon 1 Sea Trout and Eels, and certain scientific papers relating to fisheries. DUJJLLN! l'UBLISHED BY THE STATIONERY [OFF'ICE, To i,c purchased from the GOVERNMENT PIJ.ULICA1'ION8 SALE OFI?ICE1 G.l'.O. AltCADJ;, DUJJLIN, or through au� Bookseller; Price: Fow· Shillings (Pr. 4294). , REPORT OF THE lVlINISTER FOR LANDS ON THE SEA AND INLA.'ND FISHERms FOR THE YEAR -Sea fish N O'l'E : are divided int 0 o iw cate and demersal. The term "pelagic ,, . gories, pelagjc 1956. (G eek sea) is applied to those fish wruch u l i :_ "pela gos ", the sua lY smm surface of the water. The main vari at or near the i et·1 of pe la are herrngs, mackerel and sprats gic fish landed �he ter (Latin : " Dem�rgere ", to_ plunge d�wn i �:n " demersal " . s pp ied t wruch live durmg adult· life at or neai? a l o those fish the �ea b chief species landed are turbot, brill so ottom. The l l aice, co hake, ling, whit�ng, conger eel and ;ay :L , d, haddo�k, PART I. ( re. ) . Shellfish consist of two classes, viz., molluscs, of which them am var', e t·ies ga th ered are oysters, m ussels, escallops, periwin a SEA FISHERIES. kles nd cock es, and crustaceans-lobsters, crawfish, crabs ' shrrm· p l s an d prawns. The overall picture of the Irish sea-fish.ino· industry as presented in t�s report is one of continued expan;l.on and development. Landings from all the various operatiorn, encraaed in by fishermen showed satisfactory improvement on the �o;responding resu lts for 1955 and, even thonah the 1955 averaae unit prices were not maintained for a few ;'a,rieties, the fish:i·men had the benefit both of a higher turnover a.nd aJl increased average price aU over. l For the first, time in the history of the State, t,he total value of all sea-fish landed s, the actual figm·e exceeded one million pound 496 being £1,020,794, representing an increase of 15. 7 ¾ or £1�8, over the total for l 955. The catch of demersal and pelagic fish increased in quantity and value by 24 3· % and 7 9· % respecti�ely compared with 1955, while the value of the shellfish landings showed improvement to the extent of 14%. The foJlowing table gives the quantity and value of sea-fish (excluding shellfish) landed annnally during the past ten years. Shellfish l�as been omitted as the unit of measure used in the shellfish mdustry varies according to the different species and thus an oyerall quantitative total is not reaclily assessable. a ,_ 5 4 without such an outlet would not have found a ready sale. The TABLE I. quantity, value, and average tmit price of cleruersal fish landed each year for the past 10 years are set out in the following table. Year Cwt. £ 1956 377,367 787,160 1955 303,519 686,195 TABLE 2. 1954 254,714 635,802 1953 222,516 545,105 Avero.ge vo.lue Yeo.r Cwt. £ 1952 203,000 478,774 per cwt. 1951 187,645 43 1,875 1950 442,309 s. 214,236 1956 225,488 660,6-17 58 d.7 1949 234,674 507,342 1955 1!)3,916 593,190 61 2 1948 385,243 595,647 1954 169,926 540,690 63 7 1953 147,757 451,901 61 2 1947 316,438 547,185 1952 134,841 397,276 58 11 1951 119,055 354,536 59 7 1950 119,645 364,702 61 0 In Appendices 1 and 2 will be found a breakdown of the above 1949 151,537 416,275 5,1 11 1948 152,567 423,436 55 6 figures into the different varieties as well as the average unit 1047 143,677 397,008 55 1 value ?f each category to the fisherman. During 1956 fishing operations were not seriously hampered by any prolonged adverse weather, though at infrequent intervals unfavourable conditions ,PELAGIC FISHERY.-Herrings: A substantial increase in sot?-e localities affected overall production. Partial scarcities in the landings of herrings in 1956 contributed largely to the resultmg from such circumstances, together with occasional general improvement in the total value of sea-fish landed. The seasonal shortages in certain kinds of both demersal and pelagic total catch amounted to 137,84!) cwts. which realized £101,608 fish, made imports of fresh and frozen fish on a small scale on first hand sale. These totals exceeded the 1955 figures by neces�ary to meet consumer demand. The total quantity of 42·7% and 37·7% respectively. The average unit value, how such un:ports amo�nted to 5,785 cwts. valued at £17,265. The ever, decreased slightly, i.e. by 6d. per cwt., from 15/3d. per ports with the h1ghest value of fish landed were Killybegs cwt. in 1955, but in contrast with the quantitative increase, this Castletownbere, Dingle, Dunmore East, Howth, Kilmore Qua; drop was insignificant. Below are set out details of the quantity and Dublin. The rapid development in recent years of Castle and value of the herring catch each year since 1947 and in townbere into one of the major landing places in the country Appendix 4 will be found the names of the principal lancling brnught the port to second place _in the list in 1956, surpassed centres. only by K:illybegs_ where the fleet 1s numerically superior. TABLE 3 . DEME . �SAL FISHERY.-Due in no small degree to the increase m the numb r of first-class mo Average value _ � _ �or boats operating on Year Cwt. £ the coast, 1s the sustamed improvement m the demersal fishery per cwt. which in 1956 brought £67,457 more to the fishermen tha.n the 1 £593, 90 they shared in 1955. The quantitative increase was s. d. 31,572 cwts. the total landing 19ii6 ... 137,849 101,608 14 9 making 225,488 cwts. Of the 1955 ... 96,560 73,782 15 3 different varieties, the weight of haddock, whiting and ray 1954 ... 68,322 72,848 21 ·1 landed each showed substantial increases and catches of 1953 ... 58,981 70,066 23 9 brill 1952 ... 54,947 60,451 22 0 turbot and plaice also improved but to a lesser extent. In th� 1951 ... 49,823 56,830 22 10 case of cod, conger, hake and ling there was a decline in pro 1950 ... 67,840 55,438 16 4 duction but, with the e xception of cod, these varietie 1949 ... 45,300 49,438 21 IO s are not 1948 ... 73,050 73,828 20 3 largely represented in the total ta.ke. The average unit price of 1047 ... 124,918 111,284 17 10 each variety save cod, plaice and whiting increased in 1956. In cod and plaice the drop wa.s very small being 1/6d. and l/4d. per cwt. respectively. The drop of 2/l0d. per cwt. in the average Dunmore East in Co. ,¥:1,terforcl, as in 195:i. recorded thP. price for whiting may have been accounted for by bulk buying largest voh1me of herrings, its total landing of 60,400 cwts. for industrial purposes of large quantities of small whiting which A ------ 7 exceeding by 170 % the previous year's total. The sale of the 'l'he average �nit_value catch brought £37,151 to the fishermen. The ch.ief factors which improved by :�/Id. to 35/!0d. per cwt. contributed to this continued expansion were, firstly, the greater Mackerel fishmg 1s engaged in all alonrr the South Vilest and participation by Dut h buyers �1 the trade; secondly, the North �oasts �mt is not pursued by the larger type boa.ts except � _ at Balt1more ID Co. satisfactory demand ID Great Britain which lasted until the _ Cork where 4,273 cwts., or approximately first arrivals of Norwegian herring and thirdly, the existence one-tlurd of the total, was landed. Cahirciveen a,nd Dincrle in i Co. Kerry, Laclrnn in of a speedy and efficient transport service from port of land ng . Co. Mayo and Malinbeo-0 in Co. D�1ecral0 to th Bri:tish mark t. H me consum of Dunmore herring were � he next m unportance as mackerel centres. Figures of � � ? ption_ was hght m companson w1th exports but lupperers, both locally quantity, value and average unit price for the past 10 years and in Dublin, handled a fair share of the total catch. ::i.re set out below :- The industry is fortunate in that the two major herr ing TABLE 4. fis�ngs engaged in �:Y Irish vessels occur at a time when he� fishing along the Bnt1sh and European North Sea coast is slack g fishing in Avera e value The North Coast herrin 1956 amounted to 62,782 Year Cwt. £ g cwts. an increase of 20% over the 1955 figure. Of this quantity per cwt.