CHAPTER XXIX. 



EIVERS OF THE CLYDE AREA. 



LEVEN AND LOCH LOMOND, ECHAIG, AND LOCH ECK 

 AND KUEL. 



THE CLYDE AND LOCH LOMOND DISTKICT. 



ANGLING SEASON : llth February to 31st October. 

 NETTING SEASON : llth February to 26th August. 



IN the Schedule of the Salmon Fishery Act of 1868 there is no 

 District defined for Loch Lomond. The District is that of the river 

 Clyde, and Loch Lomond is a part thereof. Since the early sixties, 

 however, the Clyde has ceased to be a salmon river owing to the 

 pollution poured into it from Glasgow. One states the cause of the 

 absence of salmon in this case without any hesitation, yet if one were 

 asked to prove it one would have great difficulty. There are state- 

 ments showing, for instance, what Richard Franck in 1658 described 

 as the " multiplicity of salmon in the Clyde," one of the three " fair 

 imbellishments of Glasgow," but we have no record, so far as I am 

 aware, showing how, with the rise of population and manufacture, 

 and ergo of pollution, the famous salmon fisheries of Clyde declined 

 and died. Yet everyone knows it has been almost impossible for any 

 self-respecting salmon to inhabit the Clyde below the Broomielaw 

 while the entire pollutions of the "second city of the Empire" were 

 poured into it. 1 



Of recent years Glasgow has commenced to set its house in order 

 in this respect, and, like other things Glasgow undertakes, the busi- 

 ness is being well done. Already down the river there is a 

 noticeable change for the better ; the water is less opaque, the 

 deposit of sludge is less heavy, and the floating impurities which 

 used to form a horrid scum, are now less noticeable. A considerable 

 part of the city has yet to be brought under the direct control of 



1 The last records of salmon at Glasgow seem to be dated 1871. Mr. M 'Great h 

 who knows the Bothwell Castle and Blantyre water well tells me that in 1880 

 salmon were still fished for there, and that even at the present day one or two are 

 sometimes seen. 



