SALMON— SYMPTOMS OF DECREASE. . 117 



For the season 1883-1884 the following comparative return of the salmon 

 caught in nineteen fishery districts in England and Wales was given in the 

 Twenty-fourth Annual Beport of the Inspector of Fisheries, but in the Twenty-fifth 

 Annual Report these returns were omitted. West Cumberland, 619 ;* Ribble,t 



the hopeful confidence that characterised his nature, at once came to the conclusion that they 

 were part of the lot hatched in the previous year. In the same summer a salmon of 5 lb. was 

 causht in theDarenth, which, as our readers know, is one of the lower tributaries of the Thames. 

 In 1864 another consignment of young salmon, to the number of 7000, was turned into the 

 Thames, and in April of that year a fish of 14J lb. was caught in the Medway, where there had 

 been no salmon hatching. In May, 1864, another fish of 12J lb. was caught off Southend. The 

 enthusiasts were again to the fore with their declarations of faith in the salmon-breeding certain- 

 ties of the Thames." 



In Martin's Natural History of England, 178.5, it was stated of the now polluted and salmon- 

 less Mersey that it " greatly abounds with salmon, which in spring strive to ascend the arm of the 

 sea, and with difficulty evade the nets of the fishermen before they reach Warrington Bridge, 

 where the river becomes narrower ; and the landowners having an exclusive right, each proprietor 

 by his agents, catches salmon, amounting annually to upwards of a thousand pounds. By their 

 capture the towns of Warrington, iManchester, and Stockport are well supplied ; and the overplus 

 is either sent to London by the stages, or carried on horseback to Birmingham, and other inland 

 towns." 



* In the Report of the Sabiwii Commission in 1860 we are told that half-nets were used in the 

 estuary of the Solivay in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and subsequently a steU or fixed engine 

 was employed at Kings Garth where it was a complete barrier to the river. The rent at this spot 

 was £15 between 1706-1718, progressing till 1730 when it was £300, by 1763 it had risen to 

 £587, and continued rising until 1781, when it reached £800. But in May, 1781, this steU-net 

 was declared illegal, and there do not seem to be subsequent records of this fishing until 

 1801-1814, when the rent was £32, and rose to £.52, and in 1860 it was let at £157. 10s. But soon 

 after the commencement of this century traps were invented and placed on the English side 

 of the Solway, being copies of some on the Scottish shore. In fact, so few fish ascended the river 

 that the upper riparian proprietors took to killing the whitUngs and very young salmon, asserting 

 that they had now no interest in preserving these fish. By 1811 the captures had decreased 

 one-half along the estuary. 



t The Ribble is a very late river, especially when easterly winds prevail, and but few clean fish 

 were rei>orted in 1860 to be taken before May, while those captured during the first week in 

 September in the nets at Walton-le-Dale were full of spawn and said to be utterly unfit for food. 

 In this fishery in 1834, 214 fish were secured, their average weight being 7'65 lb. After a few 

 years, owing to an increased length of the close season, decreased hours of fishing, and never 

 retaining any fish under 6 lb. weight, the average rose to 9'70 lb. a fish, and in 1859, 442 were 

 taken. In the Tees, about 1830, stake nets were introduced and the fisheries at once commenced 

 to deteriorate. Respecting the fisheries in the Wear, which is an early river, the Surtees Society 

 published some records from the archives of two monastic bodies, the Convent of Durham and 

 the Priory of Finchdale. At the latter were twenty-nine monks who disposed of the surplus of 

 their fishery : in 1348 they sold salmon to the amount of £9. 12.s 8rf, and to compare their value 

 with other articles, it is mentioned that they had purchased a buU and two cows for £1. 12s. 

 In 1385 their receipts from the Finchdale fishery were £11. 2s Id, and in 1388, £12. 5s id, in 1437, 

 £5, in 1438, £10, and in 1439, £39. 6s 8d. 



The Convent of Durham in 1532 bought 252 fresh salmon, and in 1552, 306, they purchased 

 every month except January. They gave in the first of these years 6s to 8s a dozen for salmon, 

 either salted or fresh, •2d for each grilse, and Id for every trout. Also in 1536 they bought in 

 addition to what they obtained from their fisheries, 756 sahnon, and 24 grilses, a good deal of 

 which came from the Tyne. 



Pennant in July, 1775, observed (Tour in Scotland, i. p. 40) of this river at Durham, " The 

 common rents of those (fisheries) are £50 a year, for which the tenants have as much shore as 

 serves to launch out and draw their nets on shore : the limits of each are staked : and I observed 

 that the fishers never failed going as near as possible to his neighbour's limits. One man goes 

 off in a small fiat-bottomed boat, square at one end, and taking as large a circuit as his net 

 admits, brings it on shore at the extremity of his boundary where others assist in landing it." He 

 continued, that " in the middle of the river, not a mile west of the town, is a large stone on which 

 a man is placed to observe what is called the ' recli. ' of the salmon coming up." The Dean and 

 Chapter obtained £450 for rent and tithe, this would require nearly 13,600 fish at 8s a dozen 

 simply to pay for. In 1860 it was stated that the Wear was now so denuded of salmon that 

 it was doubtful whether any existed there, while in 1884 it was reported to be almost destitute of 

 fish consequent upon pollutions, and since then the Local Board have omitted to send further 

 returns. 



In the Coquet, which has been said to be a late river, in 1860, the lessee of the fisheries being 

 asked as to what is the earliest date at which salmon comes up this river, replied, " No salmon come 

 up at all : we only caught four salmon during the whole summer, and two of them were caught 

 in April." He added that they do not spawn in the Coquet, and the lessee of the sea fishery 

 likewise asserted that trout, not salmon, ascended this river {see p. 67 ante). 



In the Tyne, which is an early river, fixed engines for the capture of salmon were introduced 



