85 



with the Tay. Until the fry approached to within half 

 a mile, or three quarters of a mile, of Carpow Bank, they 

 were seen distinctly at the margin. When they first dis- 

 appeared, they were found, by trials with the small 

 meshed net, to be in the mid-stream ; but a short way 

 farther down, they were so completely in the depth, that 

 they could no longer be discerned. Now, no stake-nets 

 were ever erected in the Tay above Carpow-Bank. And 

 from the very habits and instincts of the fry, therefore, 

 none could be within the reach of the stake-nets in the 

 Tay. 



These habits and instincts, indeed, afford a gene- 

 ral protection to the fry from injury by the stake-nets; 

 for, although in most rivers, it would certainly be possible 

 to use such nets with success, at stations above the point 

 where the fry disappear, for example, farther up than 

 Carpow-bank in the Tay, yet at most places, the coble- 

 net might be used with equal, if not perhaps with greater 

 advantage *. It is chiefly in the open sea, and in the wide 



' the first of the flood, the deponent observed the fry in the 

 ' easy water, near the side of the river, and when the tide eb- 

 ' bed, they appeared to go into the current ; and the last fry 

 * which the deponent caught with the net in going down the river, 

 ' was in the channel opposite to Carpow-Bank' 



* No stake-nets, it is believed, were ever erected in the 

 Tay, even so far up as Carpow Bank. But there seems to be 

 no reason to doubt that they might be successfully used even 

 as far up as Kinfauns. And it is the same in other rivers. 

 The chief difficulty arises from the navigation, which might be 

 materially interrupted were the use of stake-nets allowed at 

 the upper stations, where the river is narrow, unless they were 



