554 SALMON LEGISLA TION IN SCOTLAND. 



The Solway. (&) All the rivers which are entirely English should be 



placed under the English laws. 



(.) The Esk, which is partly Scotch and partly English, 

 should continue under the English law, admin- 

 istered by Scotch Courts as regards the portion of 

 the Esk in Scotland, and the Scotch Acts so far 

 as it is concerned should be expressly repealed. 

 IV. " Inside these limits : 



(#.) The annual close season should commence on the 

 loth of September, and continue till the i$th of 

 March, both inclusive. 



(.) The weekly close season should commence at the 

 low water next after 6 A.M. on Saturday, and 

 continue for four complete tides. 



(.) The mesh for taking salmon should be not less than 

 if inches from knot to knot, or 7 inches round." 

 The Commissioners add certain other recommendations 

 as to whammel and paiddle nets, with reference to the 

 former of which they suggest that the exact boundary 

 between England and Scotland in the estuary should be 

 marked out by buoys. Those whammel nets are often 

 600 to 800 yards long, and therefore extend quite to the 

 Scotch shore, which creates as great a grievance to the 

 Scotch fishermen as the stake-nets do to the English. 

 The boundary would keep them in their own ground.* 



It is suggested that the 2$th section of the Scotch Act 

 of 1868, with reference to powers of search for illegally 

 captured fish to watchers, &c., should be extended to the 

 Solway ; that the Qth section of the Solway Act, prohibit- 

 ing unqualified persons from fishing in private waters, 

 should be amended, and that trustees should be appointed, 



* These whammel nets were recently the subject of prosecution, 

 and it is believed they were decided to be illegal. 



