06 



BEBWICK-ON The Crown, in exercising its right to salmon fishings, has let its fisheries the 

 T WEED . lagt few yearg- Speaks especially of the Cove fishery. It let formerly for a 



fish a year ; then for 51. ; now for 90Z. Heard last year that the take was one 



and a quarter tons on a Monday. These are new fisheries. Can the breeding 

 ground bear this great drain ? The mode of fishing has been extended from 

 small fly and bag nets to outriggers, and three bags instead of one which break 

 up the shoals as well as intercept the fish. There are 200 or 300, he thinks, 

 of these fisheries round the coast which were unfished 30 or 40 years ago. 



Thinks there must be an Act to authorise artificial breeding ponds. It is 

 calculated that not one in 1,000 eggs ever comes to maturity naturally. 

 All unchartered waters belong to the Crown. These are now being let. 

 There is a falling off of fish all round the coast. If there are 200 move 

 fisheries now than formerly, and little additional breeding ground, the de- 

 struction of stock must be enormous. This is all round the coast, and not 

 only near the Tweed. 



the Tweed Commissioners have instructed the water bailiffs to report all 

 weirs that are destroyed, and insist on passes. If Walkerburn is broken 

 away, a pass will be made. The Commissioners have endeavoured to induce 

 the owners to build a pass. 



The Peebles cauld is a great obstruction, and fish could hardly get above it 

 even if the fish were passed above Walkerburn. Kelso, Walkerburn, Peebles, 

 and Selkirk caulds are all obstructions. There should be powers to enforce 

 passes, but this would interfere with much property, and many would cost 

 much money. 



124 of the diseased females returned as unspawned were gravid fish in May. 

 These figures refer to the water below Carham. Cannot say if "they had 

 dropped down the river. Such a thing never happened before. There was 

 nothing apparently to prevent them spawning. There were 23 males. The 

 spawn was ready and loose. 



It would be objectionable to allow the sale of kelts. They are not worth 2c7. 

 per lb. Their sale might give salmon a bad name, and depreciate the value 

 of salmon. Would rather deal with kelts as clean fish. If the trout could be 

 killed up to 1st November and sold by the Commissioners, and their value 

 applied to a reduction of the assessment, it would be a more practicable plan. 

 Anglers would object to an extension of the net fishing season, unless they got 

 an equivalent. The influence of anglers is too great, and Parliament would 

 not agree to it. If it were proposed to alter the law, the angling season 

 would be shortened by a month. The latest Scotch rivers close on 9th 

 September, and there are already five days longer on the Tweed than on these 

 rivers. Legalizing the killing of, bull-trout kelts means, that if a man is found 

 with a sackful near Kelso he could not be touched. Poaching salmon would be 

 encouraged. If the possession of bull-trout kelts were allowed, poaching would b e 

 encouraged. Fish caught by rod are now sold, and it is difficult to stop it. 



Many salmon kelts are so injured by spinning tackle and worm fishing that 

 they die. There would be an opposition among the net fishermen to allowing 

 anglers to kill kelts after a certain date. The extension of the netting season 

 to the end of September would not affect the disease. 



The fish going up after the close time add to the number of sickly fish, and 

 so conduce to disease. 



Has heard that salmon are extinct in the Coquet. If the bull-trout were 

 killed out of the Whitadder, it would not, he thinks, hold a single salmon. 



Bull-trout might be caught for exportation, but they extend over such a large 

 area that it would be difficult. Parliament would hardly allow the food to be 

 exported when such a scarcity exists that food is imported from abroad. The 

 Tweed is very similar to the Coquet. 



It is a pity that the dams should remain impassable. It is difficult to ask a 

 proprietor to pull down his cauld and make a slap. To pay the expense out 

 of an assessment would make the amount too high. It would be advisable to 

 pass the fish over the weirs. 



Has got the owner of the mill on the Whitadder to put down his hatches on 

 a Sunday, but the fish will not go up. In three days the bailiffs took out 

 1,200 bull-trout and put them over the weir. This was five years ago. 

 Would rather have a pass to utilize the Sunday water. Has found the 

 proprietors ready to do anything they can if appealed to. 



