THE NITH 427 



permission for any fishing is necessary. Haaf netting as now 

 practised, however, is with permission or by instruction of 

 the proprietor, hence the absence of objection on the broader 

 grounds stated above, is, in my view, in line with the absence 

 of objection to infringement of the Salmon Acts in general, 

 which, as I have already indicated, is a singularly common 

 feature in the district now under review. 



This brings us to the third reason for the decline of the Nith 

 fisheries the obstruction of almost all the tributaries. In 

 1887, the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries reported that only in 

 three out of sixteen obstructions specified had any attempt, 

 apparently, been made to comply with the Salmon Fishing 

 Regulations. 1 Things are perhaps not quite so bad now. Fish- 

 passes have been constructed at some of the weirs and the 

 Cluden Cruive done away with. 



The fact remains, however, that the salmon of the Nith are 

 deprived of the great majority of the tributary streams. So 

 long as the stock of the salmon remains low, it is very likely 

 the case that the upper part of the main river can quite easily 

 accommodate all the spawning fish ; but it should be recollected 

 that a tributary very commonly offers the most advantageous 

 situation for spawning, having not only suitable gravel but a 

 less volume of water. Fortunately the head waters of the Nith 

 are of fine character, although coal washing pollution exists, 

 but a salmon river will never reach its greatest perfection, will 

 never maintain the stock of fish it might have, if excellent 

 spawning tributaries are cut off by precipitous dam dykes. The 

 Carron has two total obstructions, the Enterkin has another ; 

 the Minnock, the Crawick, the Scaur, and the Shinnell have 

 dykes built across them without any regard to the bye-laws of 

 the Salmon Acts. Complete powers exist for bringing these 

 into the condition they should be, but these powers which 

 can only be exercised by the District Fishery Board might be 

 more widely utilised. 



An excuse commonly made in the district is that so long as 

 the Dumfries Caul is not right, it is not much use dealing with 

 obstructions above, but, as a matter of fact, this weir has a 

 splendid gap in it and by no means a bad pass. 



Above Dumfries Caul the river is held up for a considerable 

 1 Sixteenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, Part II. 



