138 SALMONID^ OF BRITAIN. 



of navigation, for railways, or waterworks. Many of these weirs are destitute of 

 any traps made especially for tte capture of fish, but nevertheless in some mill- 

 weirs the fish are struck and killed while passing beneath the engine, also unless 

 proper care is taken fish, especially the fry descending rivers, often have their 

 course deflected by the mill-lead. In some weirs or dams cruives are inserted 

 into gaps in their walls through which water descends, and into which, on the 

 rat-trap principle, fish can enter, but from which a grating prevents their return. 

 In fact, in fresh waters numerous varieties of fish traps have existed, do exist, or 

 may again be legalized, as cuts, cages, coops, slaughters, &c., all being intended 

 for the purpose of capturing salmon ascending or descending streams. 



In estuaries and tidal portions of rivers sweep-nets or seine-nets are employed, 

 to some of which a rope is attached being fixed or held on shore, while the body 

 of the net being in a boat is rowed round a semi-circle of the stream, and payed 

 out by the boatman. Drift-nets can be worked down the centre of the stream, 

 and seines from both banks if the river is sufficiently narrow. The net-and-aohble 

 industry is largely worked for the capture of salmon at the mouths of rivers 

 and in estuaries, while a modification is used in the Annan, which is termed 

 a trow. 



In some estuaries and tidal portions of rivers the amount of mud present in 

 the water may render netting difficult, while should a rapid tide likewise co-exist, 

 such a procedure may be impossible at least by long nets, as in portions of the 

 Severn. The presence of ice in rivers likewise interferes with, and may even stop 

 netting. Fixed nets* are by no means uncommonly employed and may be observed 

 in use at the mouths of many rivers. 



A destructive mode of fishing but which is now illegal, was formerly common 

 in the Tweed and some other Scotch rivers, and is not unknown in English ones. 

 Its principle is that a net is affixed to the shore or made fast, and a man takes the 

 other end out in a boat and when a fish is observed coming up that part of the river, 

 the fisherman in the boat gives notice to his mate at the shore end, and the 

 net is worked round the fish and brought on shore. This is termed " stilling " or 

 stelling.t Or else men are stationed at certain spots where the water is shallow 

 and the ascent of salmon can be noted, they at once give an alarm and a 

 boat containing one of the nets is immediately rowed ofi', the net being as rapidly 

 dropped into the stream, the other end having been left on shore, and the net is 

 carried round the ascending fish. 



There are several modes of netting salmon single-handed, some of which 

 approach in principle very closely to fixed nets, the plan being such as described 

 by Sir J. Richardson for halve-net fishing in the Solway. The halve-net consists 

 of a funnel-shaped net or poke-net, ending in a pocket or bag. The mouth is 

 stretched on an oblong frame about three yards wide, to which a handle or pole 

 14 or 16 ft. long is attached. When the tide commences to flow, a number of 

 fishermen proceed over the sands and arrange themselves in a close line across the 

 current of the flood, each with a halve resting on the bottom and its pole against 

 his shoulder. As the tide rises it becomes too deep for the man furthest from the 



* The legal definition of a fixed net is " weirs, stakes, bags, stop and stUl nets : " and "whether 

 fixed to the soil or held by hand, or made stationary in any other way." — 13th & 14th Vict. o. 88. 



f There are many varieties of this net as the fixed draught net, also known as the half-train or 

 half-tram net which is employed by poachers in Ireland, either at the mouths of rivers or along 

 the coast. One end is made fast to the shore, it is weighted at the bottom and has corks along 

 its surface, half its length is so fixed between the shore and a boat at anchor, while the other 

 half lies in the boat ready to be used as a seine if a salmon shows itself within capturing distance. 

 In Hamilton's Letters concerning the Natural History of the Basalts on the Northern Coast of the 

 County of Antrim, exists an account of a very similar net then employed at Carrick-a-rede, 

 between Ballycastle and Portrush, the only place along the coast suited for its use. The shore 

 end of the net is fixed, and the outer end is carried out so as to form a slight concavity 

 facing the direction of the expected salmon. From the outer end another rope is brought 

 obHquely to the shore to enable the net to be swept round at pleasure and drawn to the land : 

 and a heap of stones is likewise prepared. As soon as the watcher sees the fish coming he gives 

 notice and the obliquely placed rope is manned by the fishermen and dragged to shore so as to 

 encircle the school of salmon. During this period an incessant volley of stones is kept up to 

 prevent the retreat of the fish until the net has been completely pulled round them. 



