agent to the lessees is, that the first year he got the management of the 

 fishery of the Foyle, the entire yearly produce was only thirty-nine 

 tons. He commenced protecting, and three years after, the yearly 

 return was raised to one hundred tons, and the average produce of 

 seven years is now one hundred and forty and odd tons. Evidence, 

 Fourth Report, 1845, p. 109. 



Lord Strafford writes in 1638, that the fishery at Derry produced to 

 the crown that year two hundred and forty tons of salmon, which sold 

 at 15 a ton, 'so as I hope, the charge of getting, salting, and packing 

 the fish deducted, there will be cleared at least 1,400, while it was 

 never let for above 1,000 before, so as his Majesty you see will come 

 by no loss the whilst.' In a subsequent paper he proposes to retain the 

 fisheries of Down and Antrim, as .worth 1,000 a year. Strafford's 

 Letters, ii., pp. 91, 225. 



It is singular that this Derry fishing that of the river Foyle should, 

 by modern protection, have reverted to nearly the same limit of produce 

 which obtained two centuries ago. 



At Coleraine, on the ' fishy, fruitful Ban,' as that river is styled by 

 Spenser, in the year 1760, as many as three hundred and twenty tons 



of salmon were taken Bingleys (quoting Pennant) Animal Biography. 



London. 1813. Vol. iii., p. 54. In this book a curious account is given 

 of the success of a man named Graham, in 'salmon hunting,' at White- 

 haven, on horseback, armed with a spear, as spiritedly described by Sir 

 Walter Scott in Redgauntlet. 



THE MOY. A remarkable instance of the results of sufficient protec- 

 tion to the breeding fish occurred in this river. Half of the lease was 

 purchased in 1811 from one of the holders; the partners were 'bad 

 friends,' and would not concur in protection the remaining holder 

 continuing averse to the expense of water-keepers. The quantity of 

 fish taken that year was only 6 tons, 4 cwt. This state of things con- 

 tinued until 1815, when the lease falling wholly into the hands of the 

 new proprietors, they immediately appointed water-keepers, and in the 

 following year were rewarded by a take of forty-two tons. Since that 

 time, one hundred tons have been killed in one season, and the average 

 has been sixty tons; so that an increase of ten-fold 'arose from the 

 protection afforded to the mother fish.' Evidence, 1824, p. 106. 



NEWPORT RIVER. Sir Richard O'Donnell, after the passing of the 

 act of 1842, being sole proprietor of the small river of Newport, county 

 Mayo, took advantage of its provisions, and employed and paid persona 

 liberally to protect it. In the course of three years, he reaped the 

 reward in having raised the produce from half a ton, or a ton, in a sea- 

 son, to eight tons of salmon and three tons of white trout for the season 

 ending the third year. Evidence, Fourth Report, 1846, p. 151. 



LIMERICK GREAT LAX- WEIR. The lessee of this great fish-capturing 

 power is believed to have realized, in some years, 2,500 a year. The 

 rent paid for its use to the corporation of Limerick, at the beginning of 

 this century, before the introduction of the stake-weirs into the estuary 

 below it, was 1,150 a year. The lease in 1813 was for 800 per 

 annum. It has since fallen considerably in value, for the present lease, 

 dated 1834, is for 300 yearly, with a clause of surrender. 



Sir Richard De Burgho stated his opinion in evidence before the Select 



