i8 9 



immensely larger supply than any other town ; so that if its 

 market records distinguish the different divisions of the United 

 Kingdom from which the supplies come, any considerable increase 

 or decrease of these, through a series of years, will indicate a 

 change in the productiveness of our rivers. 



The number of boxes from Scotland for the years 1877, 1878, 

 1879, and 1880, were respectively 28,189, 26,465, 13,929, and 

 17,408. The average of these four years is 21,497. But in looking 

 back to the previous six years' returns, it is found that the average 

 of these six years was 26,038 boxes. In one of these six years, 

 the number of boxes exceeded 31,000. 



This diminution in these ten years is the more remarkable, 

 because during that time the numbers of nets and of improvements 

 in the modes of fishing have been constantly increasing. 



It is a further indication of the unprosperous condition of the 

 Scotch Salmon Fisheries, that, about a year ago, an association 

 for the improvement of these fisheries was formed, with the Duke 

 of Sutherland at its head, and with a council of influential pro- 

 prietors, all more or less interested in the preservation of the 

 Scotch Salmon Fisheries. This association, with a membership 

 already of 159 persons, and supported by 69 local angling clubs, 

 could scarcely have obtained such immediate and influential 

 support, had there not been a strong and general conviction on the 

 part of the Scotch public, that our salmon fisheries are in a very 

 unprosperous state. 



One of the first acts of this association was to send out a cir- 

 cular to the chief constables of counties, asking, " Whether there 

 are any rivers in your county, which were formerly frequented by 

 salmon, but in which they are not now to be found ; and if there be 

 such, what are the causes which, in your opinion, now prevent 

 salmon entering them ?" 



The answers to this circular showed, "that in seven counties 

 salmon appear to have forsaken rivers formerly frequented by them" 

 The names of these seven counties are enumerated in the lately 

 printed and published report of the association. 



These answers further state, as probable causes of this desertion 

 of rivers by salmon, pollutions, obstructions, and poaching. 



