of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



15 



including the trustees in question. It respectfully seems to me 

 that if the trustees would consent to be advised respecting this 

 matter a definite conclusion might be arrived at with respect to 

 the question upon which they very properly hesitate, and a material 

 benefit secured not only to the fishings under their charge but to 

 the general salmon fisheries of the district. 



River Leven (from Loch Lomond). 



With the rise of the important dyeing and calico-printing 

 industries of the Vale of Leven, and the advent of a large popula- 

 tion connected with those industries, the salmon fisheries of this 

 neighbourhood have declined. Yet the very insignificant level to 

 which the fisheries shrank a number of years ago has been im- 

 proved upon. The pollutions of the river, which were without 

 doubt the cause of the decline, are not now so gross, it is stated, as 

 formerly ; and everything is being done to develope the fisheries 

 which remain to the beautiful loch and tributaries from which the 

 river takes it rise. The improvement is due no doubt to the erec- 

 tion of settling tanks in some of the works, and to the fact that 

 analysis of the various effluents are made at regular intervals under 

 the auspices of the Dumbarton County Council. Unfortunate^, 

 from a fishing point of view, the conditions of the river at the 

 present day are very far from satisfactory. All the works discharge 

 great quantities of colouring matter, much of which is no doubt 

 comparatively harmless but which coats the bed of the river with a 

 greasy sludge ; some of the works also allow actively toxic liquors 

 to escape. All the works boil and discharge immense quantities of 

 water which is thus deprived of its oxygen, the gas indispensible 

 to the proper respiration of the fish ; and in addition to these dis- 

 abilities the sewage of this thickly-populated valley, with towns 

 like Alexandria, Renton. and Dumbarton, is poured straight into 

 the ever-convenient river. 



I visited the district in the month of June, when no doubt I was 

 able to see the worst aspect of the pollution, since the river was 

 then at its summer level. Yet the Leven is always a river of con- 

 siderable volume and well able in its lowest state to hold and allow 

 the free ascent of salmon and sea-trout. I have no hesitation in 

 saying that were it in a purer state salmon would run into Loch 

 Lomond in spring (as to a limited extent they have been doing of 

 late), as well as through summer and autumn, and that the value 

 of the fisheries would soon become very considerable. At the 

 present time the chief run of salmon to the mouth of the river is in 

 June, while grilse and sea-trout run in July. In Loch Lomond the 

 greatest number of salmon are taken in May, and the greatest 

 number of sea-trout in August. The opening up of the obstructions 

 on the Endrick, to which I have already referred, is a step, in 

 addition to the purification of the Leven, necessary for the adequate 

 distribution of the breeding stock. The Leven, in the condition in 

 which I saw it, was quite unsuitable for the ascent of fish, indeed 

 one could scarcely imagine that in the lower reaches fish could sur- 

 vive for any length of time. Certain spots there were where 

 apparently sick fish sought respite from their unhealthy surround- 



