IRELAND . 207 



Ardara. Lord Conyngham owns a fishery worked by 

 drift nets at the mouth of the river, and records of 

 the takes at this fishery for the last ten years show a 

 falling-off of about twenty per cent in the last five 

 years. The decline is principally to be attributed to 

 the great increase of drift-net fishing in the sea 

 between Malin Head and Donegal Bay, which began 

 extensively in 1900. No less than seven tons of 

 salmon were landed in that year at one harbour 

 twenty miles to the north of the mouth of the river. 

 The drift nets are worked four or five miles from 

 land, are very long, and overlap one another in the 

 path of the salmon, which travel from east to west. 

 Poaching has been on the decrease, partly because 

 the falling-ofF in the stock of the river has reduced 

 the temptation, and partly from other reasons. 

 Nine years ago the late Marquis put up a hatchery, 

 and about 200,000 fry have been turned out every 

 year since; but so many circumstances have to be 

 taken into consideration that it is hard to say how 

 far the hatchery has benefited the river. If one 

 may judge from the very much larger decrease in 

 the number of fish in the neighbouring rivers, it 

 is probable that there has been considerable advan- 

 tage. The angling, of course, has suffered along with 

 the net-fishing. 



The GWEEBARRA rises in Lough Barra, and runs 

 into the Atlantic about fifteen miles north of the 

 mouth of the Owenea. Lord Conyngham owns the 

 south bank of the river for about six of the eight 

 miles of its course. The lease of this river having 



