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In the rivers the construction of Eel and Salmon weirs will form an 

 interesting subject of inquiry; and whether they also, in their present 

 form, and being practically of unlimited operation in season and situation, 

 may not be found too destructive. 



A clear statement of these and other similar researches will be 

 extremely valuable as a guide to future exertions, and on them may be 

 founded the detailed provisions of an entire new Act, of which the re- 

 gulations should be under the cognizance of the civil Magistrates and 

 authorities of the country, with as little direct interference as possible 

 from the Government, an interference which has hitherto been too much 

 mixed up with every undertaking in Ireland.* 



II. 



REPORT of the COMMISSION of INQUIRY of 1835, on the SALMON 



FISHERIES. 



THE Commissioners appointed on the 2nd November, 1835, to inquire 

 into the State of the Irish Fisheries, and the means of improving them, 

 have in the Replies to their Queries, received a considerable mass of 

 information respecting the actual condition of the principal Salmon 

 Rivers, and explanatory of the views of those interested in their 

 Fisheries. This information, condensed and arranged under separate 

 heads, for more convenient perusal, will be found appended to the 

 present Report. 



The Commissioners have also consulted the Parliamentary Papers 

 relative to the British Salmon Fisheries, and such other publications on 

 the subject as they have been enabled to procure; and they have, to the 

 extent of their opportunities, sought for viva voce evidence on the subject, 

 at several Fishing Stations, in their progress through the country. 



From the Replies to Queries, it appears that the Irish Salmon Fisheries 

 are by no means in a satisfactory condition, as well from insufficiency 

 of the existing laws, as from the systematic breach of their provisions. 



Many rivers, heretofore highly productive, are stated to have become 

 incapable of repaying the outlay of the fishermen; and generally, 

 throughout the South of Ireland, a diminution of fish, to a greater or less 

 extent, is referred to causes within the reach of legislative control. 



In comparing these Replies with the evidence contained in the Par- 

 liamentary Reports, the Commissioners find a very close approximation, 

 if not an actual identity, in the exigencies, legal and physical, of the 

 fisheries of the two countries. They meet with the same complaints of 

 the Upper Proprietors, against the practices pursued by the Lower 

 Proprietors, and in Estuaries and Tideways; and the same complaints of 

 the Lower Proprietors against the negligence of those whose possessions 

 are on the shallow waters. The same denunciations, also, are made of 

 artful contrivances to evade the laws for the protection of the breeding 

 Fish, in their transit to and from the spawning ground; and of the des- 

 truction of Fry, both voluntarily, and by mills and other impediments. 



* This document was enclosed in a ' letter of appointment and instruction* to 

 the Commissioners of Public Works, dated Dublin Castle, 2nd November, 1835, 

 and signed by Lord Morpeth. 



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