ir 



spective properties, which, if obtained, may ultimately 

 perhaps, become more valuable, in many instances, than 

 the land to which the fishings are naturally attached. 



All such applications are now opposed by the proprietors 

 of the river fisheries. And even where grants of sea fish- 

 ings have already been obtained, these proprietors per- 

 ceiving, that, by this new discovery, if its operation be not 

 checked, their monopoly will, after all, be equally endan- 

 gered, as it was formerly threatened to be, by the fishings 

 in the friths and estuaries, have again united to put an end 

 to the sea fishery also. The proprietors of the Don and the 

 Dee have instituted actions, to have it declared illegal 

 to fish with stake-nets in the open ocean. The proprie- 

 tors of the Findhorn have commenced proceedings, to put 

 an end to a stake-net fishery on the coast, eight miles dis- 

 tant from the mouth of their river. And the upper he- 

 ritors of the Tay and other rivers, are ready to lend their 

 aid ! Such is the state of things at this moment : The ac- 

 tions are in Court ; and, though no one will now believe 

 that the question involves any thing but the protection of 

 a highly injurious and impolitic monopoly, the probabi- 

 lity seems to be, that if the existing laws shall not be 

 amended by the wisdom of Parliament, the new hopes of 

 the Salmon fishery will soon be at an end. 



It is true, that the decisions regarding stake-nets, which 

 have hitherto been pronounced, apply only to friths, 

 and that the point of law, Whether the operation of the 

 statutes, extends also to the ocean ? is still unsettled, 

 and, indeed, has never been discussed. But, until within 

 these last few years, it was even unknown that a success- 

 ful fishery could be prosecuted in the ocean. It is impos- 

 sible, therefore, to anticipate what views our courts of 

 law may entertain on this subject; though it is not to 



