CHAPTER XXII 



THE RIVERS INCHARD, LAXFORD, INVER, 

 KIRKAIG, POLLY, KANAIRD, ULLAPOOL, 

 AND BROOM 



ANGLING SEASON: llth February to 31st October. 

 NETTING SEASON: llth February to 26th August. 



Those rivers on the west coast of Sutherland and Ross may 

 in a sense be classed together, although each has its own 

 characteristics. They are, with one exception, rapid rivers 

 draining the mountainous region of their country, of pure 

 water, rocky or gravel strewn, amidst splendid scenery, and far 

 from the railway and the busy haunts of men. 



Taken collectively the first four are of special interest because 

 of the valuable information their treatment has yielded respect- 

 ing the regulation of netting. They have, as it were, passed 

 through various phases of treatment before the policy now 

 in vogue was finally adopted. We have to go back to 1845 

 for the commencement of this history. At this date bag nets 

 were fished on the coast and it should be realised that the 

 estuary limitations on those nets did not then exist sweep 

 nets were fished at the river mouths, and cruives were fished 

 in the rivers themselves. 



The result was complete disaster, so that the tacksman 

 of the fisheries asked to be relieved of his lease. The total 

 rental was then 400. The tacksman was relieved of his lease 

 and from 1851 to 1856 no netting was carried on, angling alone 

 being the means of fishing. Under these conditions the stock 

 of fish rapidly recovered. 



In 1857 sweep nets were again started at the river mouths, 

 but no other netting was allowed, it having been considered 

 that the former depletion was the result of the fixed engine 

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