282 SALMON FISHING 



the river about a million salmon fry every year. 

 Fish for service of the hatcheries are netted in the 

 autumn, and kept in pens, whence they are taken 

 at the right season. The men in charge are par- 

 ticularly careful to distribute the fry over as wide 

 an area as possible in the head waters near the lochs. 



The gratifying results of artificial storage on the 

 Helmsdale give absolute assurance that the system 

 will be successful on the Thurso. Already there are 

 indications that it will be applied to many rivers. 

 Lord Dalhousie and Mr. Malloch are establishing 

 it at Loch Lee in connection with the North Esk. 

 There, though the principles are the same as on the 

 Helmsdale and on the Thurso, the plan is different 

 in detail. Loch Lee is not only to be fitted with a 

 dam that will, when required, raise it a few feet : it 

 is also to be fitted with a mechanism by means of 

 which the level may be lowered five feet from the 

 summer level. The reason for this is that the lake 

 is so deep all round the shore that a reduction, 

 besides making the works less costly than they 

 would otherwise be, will improve the trout fishing. 

 If the expectations of Lord Dalhousie and Mr. 

 Malloch are fulfilled, the North Esk, hitherto one 

 of the worst-managed rivers in Scotland, will become 

 one of the best. 



Many rivers require something more than storage 

 at the source, or near the source, to set them right. 

 They have falls which salmon, when heavy with 

 spawn, find it impossible or difficult to surmount. 

 An instance of this trouble, on the Don, is touched 



