392 



Appendices to Fifth Annual Report 



A proprietor in Unst writes as follows, in answer to the printed 



queries : — 



I approve of the present close time. I would approve of an annual close 

 time for trout (yellow tront) from 2nd October to 1st February. Great destruc- 

 tion was and is still caused by nets and other means used to take trout as they 

 ascend the streams when spawning. The streams in Shetland are in all cases so 

 small that fish have little chance of escaping. I do not consider that the bye- 

 law prohibiting standing or fixed nets within estuaries has been strictly ob- 

 served. 



Another Unst proprietor, who has had forty years' acquaintance with 

 the fishings in Unst and the Mainland, writes as follows regarding 

 them : — 



The bye-laws are not in the slightest degree observed, and never will be so long 

 as proprietors of fishings will not prosecute for penalties for infringing the same. 

 The quantity of sea-trout illegally taken by nets is very great, and their number 

 has decreased. The causes of this decrease are — 1st, Fish-curers from the main- 

 land of Scotland, having got right from the Crown to fish for salmon off the 

 Shetland coasts, enter our estuaries, and by sweep-nets clear out the last trout ; 

 2nd, The illegal use of fixed nets in the voes ; 3rd, The illegal catching of fish 

 going up the burns, even up to Martinmas, and during or throughout the close 

 time. 



The same gentleman, in answer to the printed query which inquiries 

 whether the bye-law forbidding the use of fixed nets within estuaries is 

 duly observed, writes : — 



Fixed nets are used in every voe in Shetland, notably at Laxo in Dourie Voe, 

 Nesting, whence salted sea-trout, and even salmon in barrels, are yearly carried 

 away by the screw-steamer ' Earl of Zetland.' Nets are known to sweep pools 

 in burns when fish are working upwards to lochs, &c. 



It seems impossible to doubt, in the face of such testimony as the 

 above — which might easily be added to from the answers to the printed 

 queries — that, as yet, the Salmon Fishing Acts of 1862 and 1868 have 

 been productive of scarcely any benefit to the Shetland fisheries, and 

 that, until there is some authority to enforce their provisions, they will 

 continue to be inoperative and useless. 



Sea-trout take the fly in the salt water of Balta Sound, Uyea Sound, 

 and various other parts of the seas that encircle the island of Unst. A 

 splendid sea-trout of 9 lbs. weight was taken in Unst last autumn by Mr 

 Hamilton of Halligarth. The yellow trout fishing in many of the Unst 

 lochs is very good. One angler took 100, running from 6 or 7 to the 

 pound up to a pound, in the Loch of Watley in the course of a short 

 day's fishing ; and in the Black Loch, a small sheet of clear water con- 

 nected with the Loch of Watley, he caught 28 trout, weighing 16 lbs. 

 The Loch of Belmont, in the south of Unst, is, however, reported to be 

 the best angling loch in the island. In two days' fishing last September, 

 one gentleman had 28 trout weighing 16 lbs, and 15 weighing 11 lbs. 

 The trout in this loch are lively game fish, and of excellent edible 

 quality. Some of the fresh water lochs communicating with Uyea 

 Sound afford excellent sea-trout fishing in autumn. 



Fetlar, though one of the most fertile and picturesque islands in the 

 Shetland group, contains no accommodation for angler or tourist. The 

 area of the island is 5500 acres, of which 1200 acres are under cultiva- 

 tion. The Loch of Tresta is not only one of the most beautiful but also one 

 of the best angling lochs in Shetland. It is less than a mile long, and 

 not above a quarter of a mile wide in the widest part. But the trout 

 average half a pound, and are quite equal to those previously described 

 in the Loch of Spiggie. 



Several Shetland gentlemen, who have favoured me with answers to 



