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THE SEA-TROUT 



My object is, of course, to emphasise the fact that our knowledge 

 of the natural history of the sea-trout, as reflected in the law of the land, 

 is of a somewhat vague and indeterminate kind, the only characteristic 

 of the fish relied upon to establish its identity being the migratory 

 habit — a habit shared in an equal degree by the salmon, and, as is well 

 known, in a less degree by the trout. It occurs to me to inquire whether 

 the importance which has been attached by the legislature to the idea 

 uivolved in the term " migratory,"' and the consequent legal classifica- 

 tion of the fish as a " salmon," has not helped to some extent to obscure 

 our perception of the real nature of the sea-trout. 



I do not deny that in some respects the legal definition has served 

 its purpose admirably, even if, as some have hinted, the rights of 

 salmon fishery proprietors have incidentally been greatly enhanced 

 thereby, but in many respects I think the sea-trout has suffered from 

 being classed as a kind of poor relation of the salmon. The sea-trout 

 fisheries of Scotland, whether alone or supplementary to salmon fisheries, 

 are of great commercial value, and yet in almost every particular, 

 as regards legislation, the interests of the sea-trout have been relegated 

 to a subordinate position — if they have not, indeed, sometimes been 

 wholly lost sight of — the assumption apparently being that any enact- 

 ment appropriate to the salmon must be equally appropriate to the sea- 

 trout. So much, hitherto, has the salmon dominated the situation, that 

 the Royal Commissioners of 1902, upon whose recommendations any 

 fresh salmon fishery legislation will in all likelihood be based, virtually 

 apologised for exceeding their commission in considering the case of 

 the sea-trout at all. Moreover, it was only in 1913 that any specific 

 information regarding sea-trout began to be returned to the Fishery 

 Board for Scotland by the Clerks of the District Fishery Boards in 

 their annual reports. If the change came about partly owing to 

 representations on the subject which I had made from time to time to 



