260 



Appendices to Thirty-third Armual Report 



from certain sources, I might refer to the Annual Report I now receive 

 from the Tweed Commissioners. 



The Tweed is outwith any official supervision on my part, yet, since 

 it may fairly be regarded as a Scottish District, or is certainly in the main 

 a Scottish District, it has been thought desirable that information from 

 it should be accorded to the Fishery Board for Scotland. The Tweed is 

 under its own Acts, and governed by its own Police Committee ; yet a 

 Report is sent annually in which statistics of catch by sea nets, by 

 river nets, and by rods, are given. Reference to the Appendix 

 to this Report, p. 265, will show that in 1914 the sea nets produced 

 5900 fish, the river nets 18,334, and the rods 2391, and that in each 

 case this was below the average. The sort of answer with which I am 

 familiar from very many District Fishery Boards is, " This information 

 cannot be obtained," or " The fishermen will not give the information." 

 I have no doubt at all that if a little more trouble were taken the informa- 

 tion might be obtained just as it is obtained in the Tweed District, and if 

 there are tacksmen in a district who will not furnish accurate information 

 to the officers of a District Board, I believe it is probable they would offer 

 no objection if asked to post to the Inspector in Edinburgh a strictly 

 confidential return. At the same time there is no power to compel returns. 



Amongst anglers, I have not as a rule found such difficulty in getting 

 information. For instance, when, in 1907, the proprietors of salmon 

 fishings in the Deveron District bought up the remaining nets in the River 

 Deveron and Bay of Banff, and established a new regulative treatment for 

 their river, they at once agreed to my suggestion that they should furnish 

 me with a confidential return of the rod catch of the river. Although one 

 does not know what the rod catch was before this period, one is certainly in 

 a position to note any progressive change after the removal of the 

 nets. The matter is of very considerable importance in ourl know- 

 ledge as to the best treatment of rivers. Immense improvement has of 

 recent years been noticed in the Wye in England, by the adoption of a 

 definite policy in regard to nets. No demonstration of this would have 

 been possible had not information as to the actual catch been available. 



But I also find that those who are carrying out a definite policy of 

 improvement may take the view that the matter is of interest to themselves 

 alone, and may decline absolutely to give information for the possible 

 benefit of others. In one of the leading Fishery Districts in Scotland, a 

 very important series of river nets was removed a few years ago. The 

 proprietors interested were fully aware of the value likely to result to the 

 rod fishing, and a careful record was kept of the rod catch, a considerable 

 number of individuals annually reporting their totals to one proprietor. 

 Believing that the removal of the nets had turned out as expected, and 

 that a valuable record of the benefit to the stock of fish in the district 

 was available, I asked if I might be allowed to reproduce in this Report the 

 totals for the river without reference to any individual fishery. From 

 experience in all other Scottish Districts in which I have made similar 

 requests, I anticipated no refusal. I was informed, however, that the 

 records were strictly private, and that I could not be allowed to use them 

 in any way ; that the giving of the records would be a breach of confidence. 

 Knowing that this view was not shared by all who gave the writer his 

 records, I offered to communicate with the various individuals, asking 

 if the giving of the totals would be objected to. Since, however, the 

 individual who held the totals would not even then have given them, I 

 dropped the matter for that season. My next effort met with no better 

 success. My request was bluntly refused, and I was reminded that I had 

 already been refused. I applied to the District Fishery Board, but was 

 informed they had not the figures in question. The fact that they were 



