2O SALMON FISHERIES 



they wished to remodel and consolidate them in one 

 Act and substitute a more easy mode of procedure for 

 enforcing them. 



It now appears, however, that, although great 

 general benefit has arisen to the Salmon Fisheries of 

 England by the clearing away of innumerable fixed 

 engines in the tideway, and by an improved system 

 of protection to Salmon, neither the Actof 1861 nor the 

 amended Actof 1865, as they now stand, give sufficient 

 authority for enforcing a free passage of fish to their 

 natural breeding grounds in the upper streams where 

 alone they can be safely bred, and that the Act of 1861 

 in repealing that portion of the old Acts, which 

 enforced a free passage for the fish, an unfortunate 

 mistake arose, which it is necessary to remedy as 

 quickly as possible, in order that our English Salmon 

 Fisheries may be fully developed. 



A very moderate supply of water, if properly 

 arranged, will enable fish to run over mill dams, 

 but where the miller has built too large a mill 

 for the size of the river and takes the WHOLE of 

 the water down his mill race, it is impossible that the 

 best system of Fish Ladder or Pass ever invented can 

 be of much use, so long as the Fish have no water 

 to get access to it or to pass over the fishway. 



It will be seen therefore how very desirable it is 

 that a more efficient Act than that of 1865 should be 

 passed, and it is hoped that all persons in the United 

 Kingdom interested in the preservation and protection 

 of the Salmon species will lend their assistance by 

 every means in their power to obtain from Parlia- 

 ment improved legislation. 



The various Boards of Conservators are already 

 engaged in reporting to the Inspectors of Fisheries 

 the alterations required in order to carry out more 

 efficiently the Acts of 1861 and 1865. And inas- 

 much as it has been proved in Ireland that different 



