SALMON LEGISLA TION IN SCOTLAND. 515 



FIXED ENGINES. 



Among the causes contributing to the decline or stagna- 

 tion of the salmon fisheries, the use of " fixed engines " 

 occupies a prominent place, though of course this is denied 

 by the proprietors of these engines. 



It did not take long to discover that if the use of fixed 

 nets and traps in rivers were not subjected to some restric- 

 tion, there would not be a single salmon left to catch, and 

 once this was realized, our ancient legislators did not dally 

 with the question, but promptly, and in no uncertain tone, 

 forbade the practice under severe penalties. -This pro- 

 hibition extended both to rivers and estuaries, and it has 

 been confirmed by modern judicial decision, as well as by 

 statute. There still exists, however, a limited number of 

 cruives and yairs, erected by virtue of special grant from 

 the Crown, and which cannot therefore be abolished with- 

 out compensation. 



Though fixed nets were thus driven out of the rivers and 

 estuaries, they were not to be so easily got rid of. By- 

 and-bye it was found out that salmon, when going to or 

 from the rivers, " hugged the shore," and nets which would 

 stand in the sea were at once devised to intercept them. 

 The first of these nets was erected rather more than sixty 

 years ago, and was speedily followed by thousands of them 

 on every accessible or likely portion of the coast, quite 

 irrespective, in many cases, of right to fish for salmon. 

 This selfish policy, however, to some extent overreached 

 itself, as there was not room for all the nets that had been 

 erected, and a good many were finally given up, because 

 they could not be worked with profit. They are still very 

 numerous, however, and as the preponderance both of 



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