356 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



upper loch shore was also netted at suitable places. At the end of 

 1907, however, all the nets in the upper loch were entirely removed 

 by purchase by the conjoint action of Mr. Nelson and Lord Breadal- 

 bane, and now, as in the case of the Awe, a much larger stock of 

 fish may be expected in fresh waters. The average take by rods at 

 the present time is about 15 to 18 salmon and fully 400 sea-trout, 

 but the prospects seem good for a considerable addition to this bag. 



The whole available river on the right bank, except the Dalness 

 Fall Pool, goes with Glen Etive. Dalness fishes below the fall on 

 both banks and the upper river on the left bank, then Lord Breadal- 

 bane conies in also on the left bank, and Glen Etive has in two 

 sections about 2 \ miles of the left bank on the lower water. 



In addition to the removal of nets already referred to a good deal 

 is being done by Mr. Nelson to give greater facilities than naturally 

 exist for the spawning of salmon and rearing of fry. A loch has 

 been formed about four miles up the glen, with a water-course into 

 the Etive, having a gradient of 1 in 28. Numerous steep burns 

 descend from the hills all along the glen, and three of those have 

 been diverted for the service of the loch. The last burn brought in 

 is carried by an artificial channel cut along the face of the slope in 

 a direction parallel to the main river, and so formed as to provide 

 spawning ground for fish which enter the loch. A hatchery is also 

 established in order to artificially increase the stock of salmon. 



The Etive is one of those West Highland streams in which much 

 spawning ground may at any time in winter be washed away by 

 floods, and in addition to this, as already explained, a considerable 

 proportion of the river bed is rocky, this being especially the case in 

 the upper reaches where salmon most congregate and a good many 

 salmon apparently do congregate there in the close season. The 

 effort at improvement of stock is, therefore, directed to hatching and 

 rearing salmon artificially, and to the providing of extra spawning 

 ground of a semi-artificial kind. 



The sea-trout, which are in great numbers in the river, have 

 greater security from floods through their habit of ascending small 

 and often rather broken side streams, and spawning in these. Salmon, 

 on the other hand, are entirely restricted naturally to the main river 

 below Dalness. As a result of this, and also since apparently very 

 many sea-trout spawn before the salmon do, so that great numbers 

 of sea-trout fry are feeding before the salmon fry are hatched, the 

 young of the more valuable species have to enter into rather serious 

 competition with their more advanced fellows. 



