OPENING ADDRESS. 3 
allowed in this narrow part of the river as being too des- 
tructive. Formerly not only were these nets allowed but 
also nets with meshes small enough to catch Hels and 
Smelts or Sparlings* as they are locally termed (Osmerus 
eperlanus), but the latter fish having become almost 
extinct in the Dee, and the fine meshed nets being very 
destructive to young salmon, they were prohibited by a 
bye-law of the Dee Fishery Conservators. 
Below the point mentioned above both draft and tram- 
mel nets may be and are used. The trammelis a straight 
net which, being lightly weighted along the lower side and 
having corks on the upper, hangs lke a wall of network 
in the water. This ‘‘ wall’ consists of a net of 24 in. mesh 
between two others of ll in. mesh. The mode of using it 
is to attach a buoy to one end of the top rope, the other 
end being held in the boat by one man while the other 
boatman rows across the channel, allowing the net to 
“pay out.” When it is all out the net is stretched across 
the channel and the oarsman has to keep the boat in such 
a position that the net shall drift down the stream 
stretched to its full extent and at right angles toit. When 
a salmon swimming up the river strikes the net he forces 
the 2+ in. net through the 11 in. mesh on the opposite 
side to that which he strikes and thus forms a bag in 
which he becames hopelessly entangled. The net is 
drawn into the boat at intervals, and any salmon caught 
taken out. 'This net is generally considered as more use- 
ful than the draught net and, being far less laborious, is a 
great favourite. In a narrow channel it is very deadly. 
* ¢ Smelt,” the word in use in the S. and EK. of England, is the Danish 
word for this fish. ‘‘Sparling” is probably a corruption of the French 
“Hperlan,” and may have been introduced by the Normans. The Welsh 
name is ‘‘ Brwyniad”’ from ‘‘ brwyn,” a rush, alluding to the rush-like smell 
of the fish when freshly caught. 
