130 SALMONID^ OF BEITAIN. 



May 1st. The Halladale is a poor river, and an estuary bye-law permits bag-nets 

 close to the mouth of the river which intercept ascending fish. The best netting 

 year was 1867, when 2139 lb. of salmon and 13,634 lb. of grilse were captured. The 

 Naver is the largest and best river on the north coast of the county and very 

 early ; the average captures for twelve years ending 1876 have been as follows : — 

 four years ending 1868, salmon 3342 lb., grilse 6942 lb. ; four years ending 1872, 

 salmon 3228 lb., grilse 5611 lb. ; four years ending 1876, salmon 5183 lb., grilse 

 13,100 lb. Mr. Murdoch, Fishing Gazette, March 20th, 1886, observed : " The Naver 

 is divided into six angling beats which are numbered from 1 to 6 ; all the rods are on 

 an equal footing, and they severally fish one beat a day, and the whole in regular 

 rotation. A fishes on Monday beat 1, on Tuesday on beat 2, and so on; B occupies 

 these beats a day later, and in the same manner the rods follow in succession." 

 The jBorgie enters the sea about a mile west of Naver, and its fisheries are said 

 to be deteriorating ; the returns give the following results : — four years ending 1868, 

 salmon 2262 lb., grilse 4363 lb. ; four years ending 1872, salmon 1495 lb., grilse 

 2992 lb. ; four years ending 1876, salmon 2361 lb., grilse 7662 lb. With the 

 Hope the late rivers commence, as all to the westward of Cape Wrath are, and 

 so on down to the Solway. 



One river in Caithness, the Thurso, which has a course of forty miles, must be 

 more particularly referred to, as it is considered to excel all other rivers in the 

 kingdom for its early fish. Bag-nets at its mouth do not commence before June 1st. 

 Mr. A. Young reported that the greatest number and weight of fish killed by the 

 rod in this river since 1853 was in 1863 when 1510 fish weighing 14,777^ lb. 

 were captured ; and the next best year was 1874 when 1240 fish weighing 

 13,870 lb. were taken. The smallest number was in 1881, when only 236 

 weighing 2830| lb. were killed. In five years ending 1867 the average weight of 

 the fish was 979 lb. ; in five years ending 1872, 10-54 lb. ; in five years ending 

 1877, 11-47 ; in five years ending 1882, 1183 lb. 



The tenure of salmon fisheries in Scotland differs from what obtains in the 

 rest of the British Isles, and the right of capturing Salmo salar in the seas to at 

 leastonemile (seawards) from low- water mark* in estuaries and in rivers has always 

 been a property distinct from that of the soil, and originally belonged exclusively 

 to the Crown, which, in the exercise of its prerogative, has in most cases sold, or 

 otherwise granted away its rights, or else they have never been enforced. Pishing 

 for salmon as a legal right can only be legally conferred by a special grant from 

 the Crown, consequently even the clause cum piscationihus in royal charters is not 

 held to convey a right of salmon fishing. Thus riparian ownership may give no 

 right to salmon fishing, even by angling, while salmon fisheries are occasionally 

 held by one who has neither rights along either bank of the river, or in its 

 subjacent soil. 



Originally the Crown rights in Scotland were principally, if not entirely, such 

 fishings as were carried on as described. While, as all salmon in the sea being in 

 a manner pertaining to the various rivers (as without such the breed would 

 become extinct) it was held by many riparian proprietors that the Crown had long 

 since granted away all its fishery rights, especially as in old times salmon were not 

 commonly captured in the sea. The Crown was believed, and no doubt did, dispose 

 of all modes of fishing for salmon then known and the more recent claim to those 

 of the sea by means of fixed enginesf it must be confessed would be open to legal 

 argument were such a proceeding to have been adopted by private individuals 

 who had sold all such fisheries as they believed they possessed from person to 

 person. 



That salmon have always been cared for by the Scottish monarchs and legis- 



* In the Statute of Eobert I. of Scotland, a.d. 1318, c. 12, everything having reference to 

 weirs or fixtures appKes to suoh as are " in aquis ubi marefluit et refluit" or as it was subsequently 

 defined in Act a.d. 1424, o. 11, James I. " in fresche watteris, quhar the sea fallis and ebbs." — 

 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 1825, p. 357. 



f Under this new plan or innovation the Crown lets fisheries for salmon along the sea coasts, 

 which fisheries are essentially carried on to intercept and capture salmon and sea trout coming to 

 the rivers where the Crown had previously partedwith its rights. 



