52 REQUISITES OF A 



future years. To prevent any excessive destruction, 

 the law in Ireland has wisely provided that no net 

 shall be placed or fixed across any river, but that it 

 shall be put in and drawn out upon the same side of 

 the river, thereby allowing an adequate stock to es- 

 cape up the stream ; that no stake, nets, bag nets, or 

 "fixed engines," fixed or fastened in any way, shall 

 be used, and that every salmon weir shall have a 

 Queen's " gap "* or opening always open of one-tenth 

 the width of the river, in order that a stock of fish 

 may pass up sufficient for reproduction. Asa further 

 precaution, the period during which it is illegal to 

 catch salmon is fixed at not less than 168 days in 

 each year, with some exception to anglers with a rod 

 and line. 



After having provided what may be deemed an 

 adequate stock of breeding fish, the next important 

 thing is to provide money to pay water bailiffs, to 

 watch and protect the fish after they leave the sea, 

 and ascend to the small streams to deposit their 

 spawn. To effect this object, a licence duty is im- 

 posed upon all nets and rods used for capturing fish, 

 and this duty on the Shannon, in Ireland, produced 

 last year jl,3l3, and upon other rivers smaller 

 amounts. 



In addition to this sum, upon f< several " (that is 

 " exclusive ") fisheries, some of the proprietors also 

 expend voluntarily large sums, for the purpose of in- 

 creasing the protection. We have one instance at 

 Ballina, in which the proprietor lays out .1,000 a 

 year, in addition to the licence duties, in protecting 

 the breeding fish from being killed by poachers whilst 

 on the spawning -beds ; upon my own fishery about a 

 hundred men are so employed, at a great cost. 



Penalties are imposed upon any man who is found 



* A free pass for the fish which by law is open at all seasons. 



