11 



running, all of which the Salmon ascend for the 

 purpose of breeding; that between the estuary of 

 one river, and of (hat next to it, there can be but 

 little space at all. The Author of the Pamphlet 

 would perhaps easily find the point where the estuary 

 ends and the open coast begins, as he has done at 

 Carpow Bank, in the Tay. Would he send expe- 

 rienced men, poking into every hole on the coast, 

 until they had geometrically surveyed the course 

 of the Salmon fry ? Such a plan is not here men- 

 tioned as practicable, and I see no other by which 

 a stake-net can be placed in such a situation as to 

 be perfectly harmless in this respect. 



It would riot, however, tend either to interest 

 the public, or to procure any advantage to either 

 side in this question, should we follow out in 

 this way, every statement made against one mode 

 of fishing, and retort it on the other. For in- 

 stance, a comparison is drawn between the two 

 modes of fishing, in regard to taking the fish when 

 full of spawn. It is said (page 38) that it has been 

 established in the Tay case, that the stake-nets 

 take fewer of these fish than the coble-nets. Now, 

 we are pretty often told of the superior quality 

 of fish taken by the stake-net. Will any one 

 suppose that the breeders have a pass ticket ? or 

 that they are not found where the other fish are? 

 And, to revert to what is said before to be a fair 

 mode of objection, let us suppose the universal 

 adoption of this mode of fishing as it is desired, 

 and that, as we are told, it would be very proper, 



