6o THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Scottish Freshwater Fisheries. The Final Report of the 

 Scottish Freshwater Fisheries Committee contains information of 

 interest to the naturalist. The Committee was formed during the 

 war, mainly with a view to investigate the possibility of supplementing 

 the country's food supply by making use of untapped sources in 

 lakes and rivers, and taking a wide view of its functions, it has not 

 only carried out experimental fishings in many places but has also 

 considered the possibility of the future improvement and develop- 

 ment of Scottish freshwater fisheries. Two of the most interesting 

 of Scottish loch fishes came under the observation of the Committee 

 the Char, a relic of post-glacial times, isolated in many of the 

 deep glacier-scooped lakes, and the Powan, an immigrant from a 

 lake supposed to have occupied the position of the present Irish 

 Sea. In many Highland lochs, especially in Sutherland, where 

 Char were knowai to abound, netting was carried on, but was on the 

 whole unsuccessful, owing to the boulder strewn bottom of the 

 glacial lakes and to the well-known habit of Char of keeping to the 

 deepest water, except during the spawning season. The Powan 

 fishery of Loch Lomond is old established, but it is surprising to 

 learn that in the single season of 1918 about 70,000 Powan, 

 weighing some 17,500 lbs., were captured. In Loch Eck also a 

 short six-weeks' fishing resulted in a catch of 6233 Powan, the 

 heaviest scaling i lb. In view of the apparent ease with which the 

 silvery Powan is netted it would be well, before commercial ventures 

 are set agoing, to ascertain to what extent fishing can be carried on 

 without diminishing the breeding stock of the lakes, for Scotland 

 can ill afford to lose so interesting a native. 



Much of the time of the Committee was spent on experimental 

 eel-fishing, and in this connection an endeavour was made to 

 discover the rivers most frequented by migrating elvers. The most 

 regular migrations reported to the Committee occurred in the 

 Bladnoch, flowing into Wigtown Bay, the Awe, the Shiel, and the 

 Ailort, but from local information the Committee regarded it is 

 possible that recent elver migrations were more limited in extent 

 than those of former years. 



Several avoidable causes tend to keep the fish stock of Scottish 

 lakes and rivers below its possible maximum, and of these the 

 Committee single out artificial obstructions and " the steadily 

 increasing evil of pollution," which is a "constant menace to the 

 stock of fish inhabiting or spawning in fresh waters, and in not 

 a few localities is already the cause of serious injury." They 

 are also firmly convinced, "after further investigation, that the 

 cormorant, goosander, merganser, herring-gull, lesser and greater 



