42 

 Town Hall, Kelso, Wednesday, October 1st, 1879. 



PRESENT : 



Frank Buckland, Spencer Walpole, and Archibald Young, 



Esquires. 



KELSO. His Grace The Duke of Roxburghe. — Owns salmon fishings in the 



Tweed. Has given orders for all diseased fish to be taken out of his water 



and buried. Ever since he has known the Tweed he has seen several fish 

 diseased every year similar to the specimens produced. This was always after 

 a hard winter. Believes it is owing to the crowding of the fish under the ice. 

 In 1870 there were more dead fish than he ever recollected. Counted, himself, 

 between 40 and 50 in his water at Floors in one day. Some were much 

 marked ; others hardly at all. 



The water was very low. Cannot say if the disease is owing to pollution. 



The disease this year is the same form of disease as that observed every year, 

 but much aggravated. Has seen fish every year with the disease. The fish 

 would be kept off the spawning beds by frost. The fish were kept off their 

 beds for many weeks last winter. The spawning was consequently very late. 

 The fish ran up last year after the nets were off. Many were caught. 



Thinks the disease is contagious if the fish are badly affected. Stinking 

 fish lying in the river must be bad for other animals. 



Never saw smolts or clean fish with the disease. 



Fish badly affected ought to be taken out. "Would leave the condition of 

 fish, as to whether they should be removed or not, to the .judgment of the 

 water bailiffs. 



Thinks the fish assemble below the caulds when going up, and they hang 

 about the pools above when coming down. His water here is full of kelts above 

 the weir. There is a slap to let the fish down at the Putt here, and it is opened 

 under the Tweed Act. The fish Avill not always go down. A natural rise of 

 4 or 5 inches will take down kelts but will often not bring up fresh fish. 



Has never caught fungousy fish with the fly. Has caught them marked with 

 wounds from fighting and also from nets. Wounds would predispose to 

 disease. 



Would rather not eat diseased fish. 



Thinks the disease, though seen most years, does not recur every year with 

 so much virulence as this year. It is an epidemic. 



The water bailiffs should have power to take all fish badly diseased out of the 

 river. Nothing else can be done. 



"When the water is low, pollution has a bad effect on the fish. Has seen 

 them swimming with the back fins out of water. The water here is not very 

 dirty. The water below the Gala is very dirty. Does not ascribe the disease to 

 pollution. 



Never saw cases of disease in Norway. Never heard of it. The rivers there 

 are not overstocked. There is too much netting at the bottom of the rivers. 

 There is certainly no disease in the Alta. 



It was in May that he saw fish swimming about in the water on the 

 surface. 



The disease appears first on the head and spreads over the fish. It is like 

 a fungus. There is always fungus on the spot. The fungus is part of the 

 disease. The disease is caused by the fungus. When it gets to a certain 

 state it gets rapidly worse. Has seen fish quite coated over. 



The disease is a river disease. When he tried artificial breeding recollects 

 keeping two or three breeding fish in a pond till a baggit was caught and 

 they all had it. Thinks, therefore, that when the fish are kept off the 

 spawning grounds they are always seen with the disease. 



The fish are cured on reaching the sea. It would be well to get the fish 

 grown to the sea a3 quickly as possible. 



During the hard frost it was impossible for the fish to spawn. The hard 

 winter had much to do with the disease. 



The captive fish he referred to were affected in the same way. One 

 fish was covered with it in a week. It was a largish pond intended for 

 smolts, 13 yards across. 



