THE TWEED 31 



greenish tinge. I have not seen this myself, but if it is proved 

 to be the case, I should certainly be further disposed to blame 

 the health- destroy ing pollutions. 



Russel, of The Scotsman, wrote at considerable length on the 

 Decay of Salmon. 1 He necessarily dealt with returns of an 

 early date, 1811 to 1855, and he wrote chiefly concerning the 

 Tweed. He found strong evidence of decline amongst salmon, 

 and also adduces arguments, in which I can scarcely follow 

 him, of decline amongst grilse. The most marked decline of 

 grilse occurred later than the dates mentioned by Russel. The 

 various combining factors of the time are rather lost sight of, 

 it seems to me, in Russel's antipathy to the coast net. Every 

 argument is turned directly against the expansion of coast 

 netting. With regard to this I would only say here that we 

 have ample proof to show that the coast net, if kept at a suit- 

 able distance from the river mouth and otherwise regulated, 

 is quite compatible with the upkeep of an ample stock of fish, 

 and that the coast net is not so deadly as the river net, which 

 catches fish already congregated in narrow waters and on their 

 way to their natural spawning grounds. 



A director of the Berwick Salmon Fisheries Co. gave evidence 

 in 1895, before the Tweed and Solway Commission, and dealing 

 with the take of fish in the whole district, which was accepted 

 as sufficiently reliable, produced figures showing a decline in 

 results equal to 20 per cent. In 1920, the decline was stated 

 to be 30 per cent. 



The removal of the cairn nets and stell nets was no doubt a 

 step in the right direction, but in all probability with the 

 conditions of sweep netting which remained, very little was 

 done for the benefit of the stock of fish. When floods used to 

 last long a greater proportion of fish probably got past all nets, 

 and although a vast number of fish were caught, and especially 

 a vast number of grilse, the actual number of spawning fish 

 must have been much greater than it is now. We are always 

 quite dependent on the number of spawning fish. But 

 conditions of capture plus other contributing conditions did 

 reduce the stock. 



After the introduction of the 1857 and 1859 Tweed Acts, the 

 conditions of the river have remained more constant than 

 1 The Salmon, 1864, p. 88. 



