22 



KESWICK. Has no recommendation to make. Thinks the watchers should he autho- 



rised to bury dead fish, and also to take out living diseased fish. A fish 



diseased will recover if only just starting. It would be a pity to kill such fish. 

 Cannot say if a line should be drawn in the river, above which fish should be 

 killed. 



Thinks salt will kill the disease. Cases have occurred of fish just out of the 

 sea. The fish may possibly have been up the river, contracted the disease, 

 and dropped back. Has heard of fish coming direct out of the sea with the 



Male kelts die in most years. They are usually unspawned. There is some 

 froth in the gills, which, some people think, is the milt of the fish. But this 

 cannot be. They die because they have not spawned. 



The river is late because of stake nets, &c. preventing the fish coming up. 

 The tide runs up the Eden a long way, but in the Derwent the fresh water 

 falls direct into the sea. 



Wishes to call attention to the Fitz stakes. Mr. Paterson and others held 

 an inquiry. The stakes were proved to be an obstruction. They are just 

 below Cockermouth. They have been altered since 1865. 



Cannot say if the fungus is a disease, or an effect of disease. Has only seen 

 old kelts with slimy matter. The river was very low when the disease 

 appeared. The disease was owing, he thought, to want of oxygen and the 

 presence of too many plants. With the amount of decayed matter and the 

 fish in the water, there were too many fish. The vegetable matter is of 

 all kinds. Bassenthwaite was as full of weeds as it could be. Saw more 

 diseased fish in October and November and at Christmas. First saw them 

 in September and October, and they increased. Saw some also in January, 

 February, and March. The fish had left before May. 



Does not know if the fish in the artificial ponds at Troutdale have been 

 diseased. There was a year of hard frost, and he thought it would prevent the 

 disease, but it did not. The frost reduced the quantity of water in the river. 



William Irvine, watcher to the Keswick and Derwentwater Angling 

 Association.— Has known the river for two years. First observed the disease 

 in November 1876. Took out several salmon and buried them. They were 

 diseased either at the head or the tail first, and it spread over the body. It 

 was a white spot, and it seemed to grow on the fish, and was always followed 

 by a fungoid growth. The fish got into the shallow water. It was a new 

 disease ; it was external. Did not cut any fish open. It was a growth on the 

 skin of the fish. The place was quite soft, and he might push his finger in 

 the place. 



This was in the spring of 1877- , „ , 



Does not know the tideway. The lowest point at which he saw such nsh 

 was in Bassenthwaite. 



Saw the kelts in the spring of 1877 in the Solway with the same disease as 

 the disease here. Has heard of diseased trout taking the fly. 



Has seen eels and minnows so affected, but not char, or grayling. 



Has not seen sore fish without fungus. Does not know the cause. Salmon 

 in the river get diseased where there are no pollutions. 



There is good spawning ground in the Greta. It would carry a good 

 number of salmon. The disease has reduced the stock of fish. The disease 

 is dying out. Only saw one case this year, and there was a middling run of 

 fish. Saw a great many in 1877, but fewer in 1878. In the winter of 18/S-9 

 the water was all frozen. Few places were unfrozen. In 1877, when the 

 disease first appeared, there was good water, little frost, and many floods. 



Has seen fish spawning here in February. Has seen kelts at the end of 

 May. Clean fish come in June. The first fish he saw was on June 26th. _ 



Has observed no peculiar smell or bubbles in the water from decaying 

 vegetation. There are a good many weeds. Does not know Bassenthwaite. 



The minnows were affected just like the salmon. They did not stay in deep 

 water when affected by disease. Has buried dead fish. 



There are a few otters in the river. Also a good few herons and sea gulls. 



Never saw fungus floating in the river by itself. Never saw it before, and 

 has watched a good many rivers. One fish was like a white rag through the 

 disease. 



Has seen both kelts and clean fish diseased. 



