of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



In the case of Boards unable to express an opinion, or to take 

 action with regard to the proposal to limit netting, it should be 

 observed that in the rivers Tay and South Esk, nets have already 

 been to a considerable extent removed, in the former case as far 

 down as the Linn of Campsie, in the latter case to a point near the 

 mouth of the river proper. In discussing the question with the 

 Ness Board a point of unforeseen difficulty arose in view of the 

 interpretation which may be put upon the expression " narrow 

 waters." Loch Ness is one of the few fresh water lochs in 

 Scotland which is regularly netted for salmon, and those interested 

 in this netting declined to regard the expression " narrow waters " 

 as applicable to the loch. On the part of the six Boards given 

 under this heading, however, the reluctance to adopt any definite 

 position was, in my opinion, very largely due to a fear lest the 

 position of proprietors not represented on the Boards, and who 

 had not been consulted on the matter, should be unwittingly 

 prejudiced. This position could be readily appreciated, yet it was, 

 I think, sufficiently clear that in Boards being asked for an 

 expression of their views they were not being asked to pledge 

 themselves to a position which would be regarded as binding over 

 the whole district in the future. At all the meetings, the principle 

 of compensating those whose net fishings may ultimately be 

 removed was assumed as being clearly implied in the Keport of 

 the Royal Commission on Salmon Fisheries (p. 36). 



In the case of the North Esk Board, which alone passed a 

 resolution hostile to the proposal to limit netting in narrow waters, 

 I may be permitted to state that the resolution was prepared and 

 agreed to by the lower proprietors — who are in the majority — before 

 the meeting took place, and that it was based upon the argument, 

 supported by good evidence, that the present amount of netting in 

 the district — which netting has been constant for a great number 

 of years, — has not produced a decline in the stock of fish. The 

 question of improving the general interest of their whole 

 district is complicated by other considerations which need not be 

 referred to here. 



After the close of the fishing season of 1903 I issued to the 

 various District Fishery Boards the usual queries with regard to 

 the take of fish, protection, and conduct of local fisheries, etc. I have 

 much pleasure in being able to report that along with answers from 

 District Boards I have this year been favoured with replies from the 

 Tweed Commissioners through the kindness of Sir Richard Waldie 

 Griffith, Bart., the Chairman, and Mr. D. W. B. Tait, W.S., the 

 Clerk. I have also pleasure in reporting that I have been supplied 

 with answers respecting the Loch Lomond District of the Clyde 

 Area by the Secretary of the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement 

 Association, a body which occupies an increasingly important position 

 in regulating and protecting the fisheries of the district. Those 

 answers will be found, with the answers from District Fishery 

 Boards and Factors to sole proprietors of Fishery Districts, in the 

 2nd Appendix to this Report. 



With regard to the Take of Salmon generally throughout the 

 country, it appears from those reports that in the great majority of 



