194 ANCIENT RIGHTS 



the gauntlet of the net and of the rod fishermen, and 

 to get to their spawning ground. This would, in the 

 first place, give the riparian owner some more propor- 

 tionate share in the numbers of fish which are attracted 

 to the river, and, in the second place, create a suffi- 

 ciency of parr to keep the stock of returning fish up 

 to its former numerical value. 



The upper water of each salmon river is the golden 

 goose which provides the future supply of salmon, 

 and without which there would be no parr, no smelts, 

 and, in consequence, no return of grilse or salmon. 

 The oldest rights of a salmon river are those which 

 were conferred by Nature on its upper waters ages 

 before netting had been dreamt of. The primitive 

 resident near such waters subsisted on the fish which 

 Nature so lavishly sent to his larder, and had, in con- 

 sequence, learnt to depend on the fish caught in his 

 own streams for a portion at least of his food ; the 

 gradual lessening of this food-supply by the netters 

 has been an evil which, owing to the difficulties of any 

 combined action, the former have been unable to resist, 

 and the greater proportion of fish, which should have 

 enriched their own streams and supplied their wants, 

 have been taken to feed others and provide an industry 

 for a few, who in reality possess no other rights than 

 those which are common to all. The common law of 

 England and Wales gives every person an equal right 

 to fish for salmon in navigable tidal waters, and to 

 the riparian owners alone an equally defined right of 

 fishing in the waters passing through their own lands. 



