INLAND FISHERIES. 387 



INLAND FISHERIES. 



The inland fisheries include the Salmon fishery, though this is largely- 

 carried on at sea, and appear to be worth, in pecuniary return, rather more 

 than the sea fisheries. The Salmon fishery is by far the most valuable, its 

 annual return being estimated, even in the present somewhat depressed 

 condition, at ;^300,ooo, while the number of professional fishermen em- 

 ployed in it appears to be about 12,000 or 13,000, a number which, with 

 their families, constitutes a respectable proportion of the entire population. 



The commercial Salmon fishery is prosecuted, as may be supposed, chiefly 

 at or near the mouths ol rivers, the engines most used being draft-nets or 

 seines (659 in ipoi) and drift-nets (360 in 1901). Fixed engines, such as 

 weirs, bag-nets and stake-nets, teing restricted by statute, are compara- 

 tively few in number, but in some cases of great value. Snap-nets (224 in 

 1 901) are confined to the Waterford, Lismore, Limerick, and Drogheda 

 districts. 



In Ireland, under common law, the public have the right of fishing for 

 salmon with moving nets in the sea and in the estuaries at any place more 

 than half a mile above or below the defined mouth of a river, except where 

 several fisheries ha\'e been granted by charter, and it follows that profes- 

 sional fishermen have a very substantial interest in the industry. In some 

 places, where a several fishery exists, fishermen net on their own account 

 under license from the owner, and probably in every case of a private net- 

 fishery the employes receive a certain sum for every fish caught in addition 

 to whatever may be their regular wage. 



The greater proportion of the drift-nets are in the hands of fishermen of 

 the poorest class, who also hold most of the snap-nets and a large propor- 

 tion of the draft nets. In consequence the number of these nets which are 

 used fluctuates considerably from year to year in proportion with the 

 success of the fishery and the prospect of enough being earned to leave a 

 margin of profit after payment of the license duty. 



It would be difiicult to attempt to localise the commercial salmon fishery, 

 since it is prosecuted with more or less success on all parts of the coast, but 

 the mouths of the Shannon, Corrib, Erne, Foyle, Bann, Boyne, Nore, Suir, 

 Barrow, and Blackwater may be cited as among the most important centres. 



Sea Trout, always called White Trout in Ireland, are of considerable com- 

 mercial value to the country, the chief fisheries being on the west coast. 

 Brown Trout, including the large varieties found in certain lakes, and the 

 Slob Trout or " luogues " of estuaries are also netted for market in a good 

 many places, while the Pollen fishery engages the attention of many of the 

 inhabitants of the shores of Lough Neagh. The Eel fishery is prosecuted 

 chiefly by means of weirs and is of great commercial value. The Shannon, 

 Bann, Erne, and Corrib are important rivers in this connection. 



Angling can hardly be regarded as of great value from the commercial 

 point of view, though a large proportion of salmon and white trout caught 



