THE SALMON. l6l 



Salmon fisheries in Scotland, &c. 



Very little till after Christmas; it ends on Mi- 

 chaelmas day, yet the corporation of Berwick, 

 who are conservators of the river, indulge the 

 fishermen with a fortnight past that time, on ac- 

 count of the change of the style. 



ef There are on the river forty-one considera- 

 ble fisheries, extending upwards, about fourteen 

 miles from the mouth (the others above being of 

 no great value) which are rented for near five 

 thousand four hundred pounds, per annum. The 

 expense attending the servants' wages, nets 

 boats, &c. amounts to five thousand pounds 

 more, which together, make up the sum ten 

 tjiousand four hundred pounds. Now in conse- 

 quence, the produce must defray all, and no less 

 than twenty times that sum of fish will effect it, 

 so that two hundred and eight thousand salmon 

 must be caught there one year with another." 



Scotland possesses great numbers of fine fish- 

 eries for salmon, both on its eastern and western 

 coast. The laws against killing it were in former 

 times so severe in that country, that the third 

 offence was made capital, by a law of James the 

 fourth. Ireland likewise abounds with this fish; 

 the most considerable fishery in that part of the 

 United kingdom is near Coleraine, at Cranua, 

 on the river Ban, which in 1754 was rented for 

 six hundred and twenty pounds per annum. In 

 the year 1760, about three hundred and twenty 

 tons were taken in this fishery. The chief Eng- 

 lish rivers for salmon are the Tyne, tUe Trent, 



VOL. v. NO. 34. x 



