BEASONS FOE THE DECKEASE OF SALMON. 291 



tide ; and I have heard it stated on good authority, that 

 on an occasion when one of the fishermen in the Beulay 

 Firth waded out to attend to the net, that by the net in 

 many places he waded knee-deep in dead smolts, while the 

 ground for a condderaile distance about the net was literally 

 silvered with their scales I After this, can any one wonder 

 that salmon have hitherto decreased ? The wear-and-tear 

 of gear in this mode of fishing is very great ; indeed, it is 

 the most expensive as well as the most desti-uctive of all 

 the modes of fishing. These nets, too, cannot well be 

 made to observe close-time, even if one be appointed, as in 

 very rough weather it may be impossible to remove any 

 portion of them for weeks and weeks together; and if 

 stress of weather be permitted as an excuse for not opening 

 them, every breeze will be so construed. It is not too 

 much to say, that fixed nets have been the chief cause of 

 the damage done to our salmon fisheries. 



They are a comparatively modern invention, and the 

 failure of our salmon fisheries may clearly and distinctly 

 be traced, step by step, from the time of their first intro- 

 duction ; ^ and they ought, as a matter of justice to the 

 other proprietors of fisheries, to be done away with utterly. 



The close-time, during which salmon should be allowed 

 to deposit their spawn unmolested, is also a matter of 

 great importance. In the great majority of instances, this 



' A singular proof of this is in the last report of the Irish 

 Fishery Board. Daring the last three years, in consequence of the 

 increase in the value of salmon, there has been a regular and steady 

 increase of bag and stake-nets, amounting altogether to some 200. 

 Just as these nets increased, so in exact proportion the take of 

 salmon steadily and regularly decreased. (1863.) 



