136 APPENDIX. 



son — nay, that five or six months' good fishing would 

 be better than twelve months' bad. The old Irish 

 Act, 8th Geo. I., cap. 7, fixed the 1st of August as 

 the commencement of the close season, and the pre- 

 sent Act fixes the 20th of August. I would cer- 

 tainly prefer the former (although pubhc meetings 

 have been held proposing the 1st of October !) ; in- 

 deed I conceive, that to stop all fishing on the 1st of 

 August, would be the measure above all others, that 

 would ensure the prosperity of the Irish Fisheries. 

 But here again the upper proprietors in various 

 rivers, offer their opposition, and wish to continue 

 fishing until the 1st of October ; but our laws 

 should be made to be subservient to the laws of 

 Nature ; and if Nature gives salmon the instinct 

 not to visit the upper parts of rivers, until the 

 spawning season approaches, it is unreasonable in 

 the owners of estates in the upper parts of rivers 

 to seek to kill them at that period. Those who ad- 

 vocate thus continuing the open season to a late pe- 

 riod of the year, forget that in removing the prohi- 

 bition from themselves, they must also remove it 

 from the lessees, and those interested in the sea and 

 tidal fisheries. If the upper proprietor is to be at 

 liberty to fish in August and September, the bag 

 and stake net in the sea, and the draught net in the 

 tideway, must have equal privilege ; and the result 

 will be, that all should fish, until the migration up- 

 wards, of spawning fish, had ceased, and then the 

 protection for the breeding fish, would commence 



