37 



and cannot afterwards extricate themselves : by which 

 means, great numbers of the brood are lost. Much 

 greater numbers are destroyed by being inclosed in the 

 net itself, when it is rapidly swept along the bank, and 

 all that fall within its circuit are dragged to the shore, 

 But the loss which is occasioned by the weights attached 

 to the nets, tearing up, crushing, and bruising the yet 

 inanimate beds of spawn deposited at the bottom of the 

 river, is altogether incalculable. 



So far as respects the fry, therefore, nothing farther 

 needs be said. It is established, as clearly as evidence 

 can establish any thing, that it is the coble-nets alone, 

 those favourites of the law, by which the fry is injured 

 or destroyed ; while the stake-nets, which the same law 

 at present prohibits and puts down, are altogether harm- 

 less. 



How, then, stands the case, next, with reference to 

 the spawning fish ? 



It is very evident, that there must be a destruction of 

 these fish, in a greater or less degree, at all stations to 

 which they resort, whether the engines in use be stake- 

 nets or coble-nets. But here, again, as in the case of the 

 fry, the result is infinitely more favourable to the stake- 

 nets than to the other. 



The stake-nets, it will be kept in view, are not fitted 

 for narrow rivers, neither can they extend through the 

 depth of the mid-channel, the place of navigation. They 

 can be used with advantage, only upon the banks and 

 shoals of the friths, and the sloping shores of the ocean, 

 which the tide leaves when it ebbs. But it is not at these 

 stations that the spawning fish are to be found in any great 

 numbers. Stray fish may, no doubt, find their way within 



