98 Appendices to Thirty-fourth Annual Report 



of three miles of shore in the parish of Ruthwell. The tenants are 

 The Annan Fishermen's Association, and the boundary of their fishing is 

 mid-channel. This may account to some extent for the decline in the 

 number of whamniel licences issued by the Eden Board, as the majority 

 of the Sol way whammellers in the past lived at Annan Waterfoot. No 

 stake nets are used by the tenants referred to. 



Xith. 



The Salmon Fisheries of this river have frequently been under review, 

 criticism being chiefly centred upon three points : the netting at the 

 mouth of the river ; the pollutions ; and the manner in which many of the 

 tributaries are obstructed to salmon by difficult or insurmountable weirs. 



It is unnecessary, in the present Report, to review the whole position 

 in which the District is unfortunately placed to-day, but certain changes 

 have recently occurred which may open up rather improved prospects for 

 the future. 



The netting which for very many years has been carried on in the 

 tidal w r aters below Dumfries Caul has been criticised because of the 

 manner in which the netting has been conducted. I do not refer to the 

 shot which is fished immediately below the Caul, although the use of 

 a net in such a position is most unfortunate, since it is certain to catch 

 the fish which have been checked in their ascent by the obstruction. It 

 is perfectly legal to net as is done, but in some localities private agreements 

 have been come to by which netting or rod fishing is prohibited within 

 a prescribed distance — an arrangement which certainly would be of great 

 advantage at Dumfries. 



The unlawful method of fishing which I have "witnessed, and which 

 has repeatedly been complained against, is practised lower down. The 

 net is hung across the stream in such a way as to form a complete barrier 

 from bank to bank, no attempt being made to row the shot as in proper 

 sweep net fishing with a net and coble, or to keep the net moving through 

 the water by the active operation of fishing. 



In most localities, I am glad to say, the movement of the net through 

 the water by the action of the fishermen is strongly insisted upon, but 

 in the Xith, although I have drawn the attention of the District Fishery 

 Board to the matter, the practice complained of has continued. It has 

 been reported to me that a net has been seen to hang for as long as an 

 hour and a quarter, I have timed the operation more than once, and 

 although I have not seen the process of hanging or drifting carried on 

 so long, the normal five minutes or so in which the shot should have 

 been completed was far exceeded. There is no possible ambiguity about 

 the way in which a net and coble shot should be fished, after the decision, 

 in the House of Lords, of the case The Duke of Atholl v. The Glovers 

 Incorporation of Perth. The Lord Chancellor, together with his colleagues 

 Lords Macnaghten, Davey, and Brampton, all supported the ruling of Lord 

 Westbury in the earlier case of Hay v. The Magistrates of Perth, in which 

 the motion of the net by the hand of the fisherman and the temporary 

 grasp of the water in the sweep of the net were insisted upon. The 

 Lord Chancellor's words are : " Lord Westbury described the mode of 

 fishing which he held to be lawful, and which he said came within the 

 principle of ordinary net and coble fishing, because it was a mode of 

 fishing which exists only and takes the fish only while the net is kept 

 in motion, and which preserves all the distinctive peculiarities of fishing 

 by net and coble — namely, taking a grasp of a portion of the river during 

 such time only as is required for the boat to row r round the net." 



Lord Macnaghten adds : " Nets stretched or stented across the channel 



