194 SALMON FISHING 



LOUGH LEANE has for three years been falling-off 

 a little as regards both nets and rods. The cause, I 

 am told by Mr. Scully, Secretary to the Killarney 

 Conservators, is unknown. The lough, however, is 

 cared for well. The Fisheries Branch of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, in order that knowledge may 

 be gained, have instituted a system of marking 

 salmon released from the hatcheries. The decrease 

 is the more astonishing when the enormous output 

 of salmon fry from the three hatcheries is considered. 

 The hatcheries have been established for four years. 

 One of them is in Killorglin. The other two, in 

 Killarney, are maintained by Lord Kenmare and 

 Lord Ardilaun. The trout angling in Lough Leane 

 and neighbouring lakes ranks with the best in 

 Ireland, and is steadily improving. 



The FLESK, in the Killarney region, has been going 

 down. Mr. D. Cronin-Coltsmann, Flesk Castle, who 

 owns part of the river, says that twenty-five years 

 ago he used to catch three salmon in a day, and that 

 now he considers himself fortunate if he has three 

 in a month. "This great decline," he writes, "is 

 attributable to excessive netting in the tidal waters, 

 to poaching there during the weekly close time, and 

 to poaching in the upper waters during the spawn- 

 ing season."" 



The BLACKWATER, in County Cork and County 

 Waterford, before the Act of 1863, suffered greatly, 

 with many other rivers, from over -netting. Soon 

 after the removal of many fixed engines and the 

 establishment of " Queen's gaps " in weirs, the fishing, 



