196 HISTORY OP SEA-FISHERIES. 



mittee was appointed in 1836 to consider the state 

 of the salmon fisheries of Scotland, and in the 

 previous year commissioners had been instructed 

 to investigate the condition of the said fisheries. 

 From each of these bodies reports have proceeded 

 which have been laid before the Houses of Parlia- 

 ment, and contain a considerable amount of infor- 

 mation upon the subject. 



Taking these branches of the inquiry in the 

 order here given, I will proceed to describe as 

 briefly as possible the actual condition of the 

 fisheries connected with the coasts and rivers of 

 the United Kingdom. 



The appointment of the committee in 1833 

 arose out of the distress which was at that time 

 said to affect the several Channel fisheries, and, in 

 its reports, the committee stated that these fisheries 

 were generally in a very depressed state and on 

 the decline; that they appeared to have been 

 gradually sinking since the peace of 1815; that 

 the capital employed did not yield a profitable 

 return; that the number of vessels and of the 

 people to whom it gave employment was dimin- 

 ished ; and that the fishermen who formerly could 

 maintain themselves and their families by their 



