28 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



extend the Commissioners' jurisdiction seaward for five miles 

 in pursuance of the early definitions relating to the mouth, 

 i.e. beyond what is technically known as the territorial limit 

 of three miles usual in the rest of the country. In so far as 

 fishing by means of fixed net is concerned the limits defined 

 in the 1859 Tweed Act, first quoted, are the limits which 

 determine the proximity of such nets to the river. 



We may now consider the past and present condition of 

 Tweed fisheries, and the influences which seem to be at work 

 in modifying the results. A good many tables of statistics 

 of the fisheries have been published from time to time, and 

 these are arranged in two ways : 1st, the Estimated Annual 

 Produce of the river fisheries apart from the coast fisheries ; 

 and 2nd, the Produce disposed of by the Berwick Salmon 

 Fisheries Company, Limited, a company which certainly 

 represent the largest proportion of netting results. The former 

 were prepared by Mr. Paulin, for many years Secretary of the 

 Berwick Company ; but it appears that owing to an error in 

 the figures on which his estimates were based, which occurred 

 about the year 1880, the figures for the whole produce of the 

 river have to be discarded after that date. The latter have 

 the advantage of being actual results instead of estimates. 

 The former commence in 1808, while the latter in any readily 

 available form commence only in 1842. The one is therefore 

 not quite comparable with the other. 



I therefore propose to abide exclusively by the actual returns 

 of the Berwick Company, although by so doing I sacrifice giving 

 a statement of the great years of plenty in the early part of 

 last century. I will, however, mention the record year as a 

 matter of general interest, 



Year. Salmon. Grilse. Trout. Total. 



1816 . 54,041 120,596 62,074 236,711 



and add that the salmon column consistently shows five figures 

 till the year 1829, when from 13,511 fish the previous year 

 there is a sudden drop to 5,350. The grilse column does not 

 suffer in this way for other forty years, when from 23,448 fish 

 in 1867 there is a sudden drop to 4,078. 



Taking now the returns of the Berwick Salmon Fisheries 

 Company the descendant of the old Berwick Shipping Com- 

 pany I will condense matters by giving quinquennial averages 



