CHAPTER XVII 

 IMPROVEMENT OF FISHERIES RE-STOCKING 



UP to the present time the efforts directed towards 

 the improvement of the Lake District fisheries 

 have been mainly of a negative kind. The 

 powers with which Fishery Boards are invested 

 are of a somewhat restricted nature, and hither- 

 to their efforts have been mainly in the direction 

 of instituting " close-times " ; regulating the size 

 of mesh of nets ; preserving the breeding fish on 

 the spawning grounds ; and, in a smaller degree, 

 in rendering access of fish up rivers easier. A con- 

 siderable amount of good work has been done in 

 this connection, but much remains to be done. 

 The productiveness of the great chain of lakes and 

 rivers is but little, if any, in excess of what it was 

 thirty years ago ; for whilst preservation has shown 

 beneficial results in some directions, over-stocking 

 has had an opposite effect. 



The fish in most of the lakes are the produce of 

 those which have been there from time imme- 

 morial ; there has been but little infusion of 

 new blood ; in many instances, the fish have 

 been allowed to increase in such numbers as 

 to overstep the food-supply, with the result that 



