Experience, and the observation of fishers, have, how- 

 ever, discovered that the period during which, by the ge- 

 neral law in the statute-book, the fishery is forbidden, is 

 not the proper period for attaining what the Legislature 

 had in view.* And, in like manner, as to the modes of 

 fishing; how extraordinary soever it may appear, the 

 regulations which were intended for the protection of the 

 fry or young brood of Salmon, are now acknowledged, in 

 their operation, to have the very opposite effect ; pro- 

 tecting, on the one hand, the very engines which, in the 

 present state of the law, destroy the fry and ruin the 

 fishery; and, on the other, preventing the use of appa- 

 ratus, harmless as to the propagation of the species, and, 

 at the same time, powerful beyond all other known means, 

 for increasing the produce of the fishery. 



The real value of the Salmon fishery has thus, in a 

 great degree, been lost sight of, both by the public, and 

 by the Legislature. It has been regarded as a source of 

 profit to individual proprietors, but seldom, in modern 

 times, considered as of importance to the state. The ex- 

 perience of the last twenty years in some parts of Scot- 

 land, and, perhaps, more particularly the experience of 

 the last four or five years, on the northern parts of 

 the east coast, hap, however, opened the eyes of many, 

 and displayed a source of national wealth and national 



* Accordingly, in some of the rivers of Scotland, special 

 statutes have altered the season, and in others, local usage, by 

 common consent, from time immemorial, has overcome the ge- 

 neral law : while, in many of the principal rivers, the original 

 statutory regulation is still in force. And, in consequence, as 

 will be afterwards noticed, the most extraordinary diversities 

 exist, in regard to the periods during which the fishery is al- 

 lowed to be carried on in the different rivers in the kingdom. 



