A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Sandsfield to Bowness, and sometimes as far to 

 the west at Skinburness. The seasons for killing 

 salmon at Workington are in August, September, 

 October and sometimes in February. 1 



No commercial value seems ever to have 

 attached to salmon fishing by net at any 

 place above Stainburn. There are many who 

 have netted, and do net, but for sport only and 

 not for profit, and at present there would be 

 encouragement for such a practice. Hutchin- 

 son, in describing Cockermouth, says : ' The 

 rivers abound with salmon, trout, brandling, 

 pike, eels and other smaller fish.' Other re- 

 ferences about the latter end of the eighteenth 

 century are similar in character, and would 

 point to that period as the high water mark 

 in the history of the salmon. The artificial 

 condition of rivers at the present time are pre- 

 judicial to fish ; there is a maximum of pollu- 

 tion, a minimum of food for fishes. Drainage 

 has been the cause of the destruction of spawn 

 in autumn, and also the cause of drought in 

 summer, when the small streams run abso- 

 lutely dry and thousands of fry and yearlings 

 are thereby destroyed, the majority falling a 

 prey to birds and rats. 



The coops at Stainburn, first mentioned in 

 1278, have probably been in continuous use 

 ever since. They are now the property of 

 Lord Lonsdale, and are let to a few gentlemen 

 who sublet to the Derwent Fishery Board. 

 These coops have now for a very consider- 

 able time been let either from year to year or 

 by lease, and no record has been kept either 

 by the owner or tenant of the number or 

 weight of fish taken. The late tenants, 

 Messrs. Dalzell, used to net from Salmon 

 Hall, where the coops are, as far as the 

 Cloffbcks, but the present tenants have done 

 very little netting, preferring that the fish 

 should run up the river and afford sport for 

 the rod fishers. There has also been no 

 record taken of the salmon caught by rod, 

 either previous to or since the Fishery Board 

 came into being, but the last few seasons have 

 been wretched, and there seems to be a very 

 bad outlook for the salmon fishery. 



The Derwent Fishery Board was formed 

 on the 29 March 1880, with the late 

 Mr. William Fletcher as chairman, and 

 with the exception of the first two years 

 there are records of the revenue obtained 

 from rod, net, coop and general licences. 

 These last however have more interest in 

 the trout than in the salmon. Appended are 

 lists giving all the information which is avail- 

 able by the clerk to the Derwent Fishery 

 Board, Mr. T. C. Burn, with reference to 



the sources of revenue obtained. These 

 figures are an index roughly of the various 

 good and bad seasons, but cannot be taken 

 as an exact exposition of the state of the 

 Derwent and its tributaries during each year. 

 The pursuit of salmon fishing has grown so 

 remarkably during the last thirty years that 

 all rivers here, as well as in Norway, Sweden 

 and Finland, are ransacked by rods, so that, 

 though the spoil is less, there is a greater rush 

 even to the mediocre waters of the Derwent, 

 and a somewhat fictitious value may be given 

 to the later years. It cannot but be a matter 

 of great regret that a fine river like the Der- 

 went should produce such a miserable salmon 

 harvest, but the varied interests make any 

 scheme well nigh impossible to carry out, 

 and the number of small proprietors are 

 always a great hindrance to any complete 

 arrangement or improvement. It seems that 

 at the present time the salmon fishery of the 

 Derwent is of much less value than it was 

 when the first records are to be found. 



DERWENT FISHERY BOARD 



Amount received for Salmon Licences for the 



following years, viz. : 



1 Hist, ofCumb. ii. 139-41. 



The Secretary of State's certificate of for- 

 mation of the Board is dated 29 March 1880. 



1 Information for these years is not available. 

 Salmon and trout licences included in the accounts 

 in one amount ; it is therefore impossible to 

 define salmon. 



414 



