214 THE TAY BEFORE AND AFTER STAKE-NETS. [CHAP. v. 



Isla down to the sea has ranged from 70,000 to upwards of 

 100,000. Ten of the fishing-stations between Perth and 

 Newburgh used to produce an annual rental of about (on 

 the average) 700 each. 



As to the much-discussed stake-net question, the fol- 

 lowing figures may be quoted : About the end of last 

 century, before the existence of stake-nets, the average number 

 of fish taken at the Kinfauns fishery was salmon, 8720 ; 

 grilse, 1714. In the first ten years of the present century, 

 the average annual catch of salmon fell to 4666, and the 

 grilse numbered 1616. After the stake-nets were removed, 

 and in the ten years from 1815 to 1824, the average number 

 of salmon caught was 9010 per annum, and of grilse 8709. 

 I have purposely avoided filling up my space with an ac- 

 cumulation of proof on this point, but were further proof 

 required of the deadly influence of stake and bag nets on the 

 salmon rivers, it could easily be had ; indeed, ample testimony 

 has, from time to time, been recorded in Parliament, both 

 against the stake-nets, and that " chamber of horrors" for the 

 salmon, the deadly bag. A stream like the Tay ought to 

 have a stock of breeding-fish sufficient to produce more than 

 100,000,000 of eggs, because the destruction of the spawn 

 and the young fish is so enormous as to require provision 

 for a large amount of waste ; hence the value of artificial 

 cultivation. By the natural system of spawning it is sup- 

 posed that only one egg in each thousand comes to the fisher- 

 man's net as a twenty-five pound fish. 



The river Spey is an excellent salmon-producing stream ; 

 in fact, size considered, it is the richest in Scotland, the fish- 

 ings at Speymouth being worth 12,000 per annum. The 

 Spey is about a hundred and twenty miles on its course before 

 it falls into the sea, and some parts of the river are very pictur- 



" Dipple, Dundurcus, Dandaleith, and Dalvey 

 Are the bonniest haughs on the run of the Spey." 



