94 THE FISHERIES. 



sons found taking salmon, trout, or other fish, off 

 spawning beds, in the close season, for scientific or 

 for practical purposes : provided such persons have 

 the hcence of the Commissioners for so doing. 



In the preceding article upon the Fisheries, which 

 was written with the view, to ilkistrate and explain 

 the provisions of the Bill, relative to the fishery laws, 

 then before Parliament, the pohcy of permitting the 

 use of fixed nets, within rivers and harbours, was very 

 fully discussed : since the period of its publication how- 

 ever, some discussion has taken place in Parliament 

 — we mean, the discussion which took place when 

 the Bill in question was brought forward for second 

 reading ; and from what then transpired, it is plain 

 that any effort for the total abolition of those engines 

 in rivers and harbours, will be attended with great 

 difficulty. It is not our intention to alter one iota of 

 our opinions upon that question. Indeed, we wish it 

 to be understood, that we put forward the article in 

 question as a complete practical system for the im- 

 provement of the salmon-fisheries : we propounded 

 our own opinions, and drew solely from practical 

 sources, having their origin in our own experience. 

 We shall not now modify or vary any of those, our 

 carefully considered opinions ; if we here re-open 

 the questions as to fixed nets, we do so, not upon 

 practical, but upon political grounds. 



Oar opinions remain the same. We consider that 

 the legalisation of stake and bag-nets by statute, and 

 the permission thus given to erect such fixtures in 



