xviii INTRODUCTORY 



In former days the legislator said in effect, " The 

 salmon breeds in our rivers, and after breeding is 

 not fit for human food: we must protect the fish 

 while it breeds, and protect the lieges against un- 

 wholesome feeding." The system of having District 

 Fishery Boards and the supervision of a central 

 authority has now sprung up, however, and our 

 legislation must necessarily take account of this and 

 of the duties which naturally fall to be dealt with 

 by one body or the other. In Scotland, our District 

 Boards are composed entirely of the proprietors who 

 own the rights of fishings. The Crown may be, and 

 frequently is, a local proprietor of such rights, but 

 none but proprietors have apparently any say in the 

 matter of local management. With the natural 

 trend of modern development it is perhaps fair to 

 assume that in the future District Boards will have 

 assigned to them wider discretionary powers : they 

 will be expected to know what is for the best interest 

 of the districts under their charge; while the central 

 authority will be expected to concern itself in the 

 general interests of the salmon fisheries as a whole 

 and in the particular questions which, arising locally 

 and of local importance, require settlement at the 

 hands of a neutral authority. 



Already in many districts private associations 

 are springing up in order to deal more effectively 

 with such points, for instance, as the amount of 

 netting which safely may be allowed in particular 

 districts, a point which, if they had power, District 

 Fishery Boards might very well be expected to con- 

 trol. Each district has to be dealt with on its own 



