430 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



their nets, and at the same time gives water bailiffs daylight to see 

 that the operation is properly carried out. 



A very important recommendation also is that a point should be 

 fixed in every river above which netting should cease. This point 

 might conveniently be fixed by authority of the Secretary for Scot- 

 land, after petition from a District Fishery Board, and it is 

 suggested that the Central Authority may similarly petition in 

 cases where no District Boards exist. The object of fixing such a 

 point is to secure the just operation of the weekly close time, and 

 of the proposal to remove undue netting, so as to secure that a 

 proportion of every run of fish entering a river may pass through 

 the netted area and contribute to the stock of the river. It is 

 manifestly useless to take off nets at a river mouth, for instance, if 

 netting is carried on in the upper reaches. Kemoval of nets should 

 in all cases be from above downwards. Such removals should be 

 met by compensation on the part of the District Board, and failing 

 agreement on this matter, by the authority of the Fishery Board for 

 Scotland after inquiry, and the confirmation of the Secretary for 

 Scotland. 



These may be said to be the leading suggestions and to embody 

 the features specially set forth by the Elgin Commission. Many 

 minor matters are, of course, also dealt with, such as modifications 

 of bye-laws, erection of salmon passes, and the powers of local 

 boards and proprietors to deal with local methods of fishing, etc., 

 but the points touched upon are preeminently those which would 

 bring about a systematic regulation of Scotland's salmon fisheries in 

 a manner not previously attempted. The alteration from the 

 existing conditions would certainly be very considerable, but it has 

 to be remembered that in the forty years which have elapsed since 

 the passing of the 1868 Act the fisheries themselves have greatly 

 altered, that no Commission has ever dealt so thoroughly with the 

 whole subject as Lord Elgin's Commission, and that we have 

 embodied here the results of most enlightened and matured con- 

 sideration. In so far as the policy of reducing nets in narrow 

 waters goes, we have already a very considerable amount of 

 experience in Scotland. Within recent years river-netting has 

 been so reduced that it can now be said of comparatively few 

 Scottish rivers that they are over-netted. The netting is referred 

 to in the descriptive accounts of the several rivers. 



