192 SALMON FISHING 



opened and fish could be sent to English towns, 

 nets began on the tidal portion, and effects were 

 disastrous. The fish continued to decrease until at 

 length almost none came to the fresh water. Two 

 years ago the proprietors on the upper river asked 

 the Fishery Commissioners to have an inquiry. This 

 was held at Adare; and the result was that snap 

 nets, the most deadly of all, were prohibited, and 

 seine nets were shortened. The reform did good. 

 Last year fish to a fair number were taken by rod. 

 At the weir under my windows I see fish which in 

 good condition would weigh 40 to 50 Ibs." 



The LEE, running through County Cork, naturally 

 a first-class river, is almost ruined. At any rate, 

 that seems to be the upshot of the information 

 I have received. Mr. Henry Welch - Thornton, 

 Beaurepaire Park, Basingstoke, writes : 



"I have now given up my fishing on the Lee. 

 During the seven years I had the Nettleville fishery 

 some seasons were good and some bad ; but I do not 

 think the river has altered much on the whole." 



The river suffers from almost every known in- 

 fluence of a bad kind. Mr. Alderman Henry Dale, 

 Crok, writes : 



" Since the Anglers' Club, founded in 1869, was 

 finally given up, the river has been going back. I 

 am of opinion that the only way to improve the 

 salmon fishing of the country and materially increase 

 the quantity of fish as a food-supply would be pro- 

 viding from some public source sufficient funds for 

 protection." 



