31 



may rest in tranquillity, in the assurance that THE WRONG 



4 WILL BK RECTIFIED BY THE POLICY AND WISDOM OF 



* THE LEGISLATURE.' 



The general question, then, whether as a great public 

 measure, Salmon fishing, by means of stake-nets, ought 

 or ought not to be prohibited, remains still to be determin- 

 ed by the result of an inquiry into their expediency or 

 inexpediency. It is not fettered by private rights in the 

 upper heritors, nor has it been judged of by the courts 

 of law. It lies with the legislature to inquire into the 

 policy and effects of the prohibition, and to alter and 

 amend the laws accordingly. 



Now, with reference to the simple question of the ex- 

 pediency or inexpediency of allowing stake-nets to be 

 used, the objections which have been stated to this mode 

 of fishing are chiefly these : 1. That it is injurious to the 

 breed of the Salmon, by capturing the spawning fish and 

 the fry ; and, 2. That, by means of it, such immense 

 numbers of Salmon are caught in the sea and in the friths, 

 that eventually the species itself may be annihilated, 



1. The first objection, that the use of stake-nets is 

 injurious to the breed, is deserving of much attention. 



But. in the first place, so long as the fishery is allowed 

 to be carried on at a period of the year when the spawn- 

 ing fish and the fry are exposed to capture, all modes 

 of fishing, more particularly in the rivers, must more or less 

 affect the breed. It is in this view, accordingly, that we 

 have already pointed out the necessity of some alteration 

 in the existing law, as to the fishing and close seasons. 

 But if these were properly regulated, the spawning fish 

 and the fry would be protected, whatever the nature of 

 the fishing apparatus. It is, therefore, an absurd and 



