of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



101 



low conditions of river was quite impassable to fish, since all the water of 

 the river passed through the interstices of the dyke. It has now been 

 rendered more watertight, but a slap has not been cut in the sill so as to 

 concentrate the flow of water in any way, nor has a pass of a simple kind 

 been formed. As the dyke is not high, however, it is believed that in 

 future fish will not congregate so badly below it. 



Croe. 



On 29th July I visited the mouth of this river, and discovered a net 

 set at an anchor directly opposite the mouth. On shore a tent had been 

 erected, and three men, the salmon fishers, were here waiting the next run 

 of salmon with the rising tide. I learned that the fishing was being carried 

 on by the proprietor who owns the rights, and that a fourth man, the 

 proprietor's gamekeeper, was absent on other duties. 



I had the net drawn on shore, and found it to be about 130 yards long, 

 the ground rope leaded and the top rope corked. I was informed that the 

 net was commonly left as I had found it for as long as two to three hours 

 at a time. The fish were sent to a merchant in Dingwall. 



I found also that a similar net was used at Ratigan on the opposite 

 shore. I trust that neither net will be used in this illegal manner in 

 future. The case referred to under the heading Nith, at the beginning of 

 this Report, is equally applicable here, although in the river Nith the 

 fishermen did not carry the matter so far as to use an anchor. The limits 

 of the estuary, in the case of the Croe, within which it is illegal to use any 

 form of fixed net for the capture of salmon, are mentioned under the 

 heading Loch Luing in Schedule B of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 

 1868, and are "a straight line drawn due South, true Meridian, from Scart 

 Point on the north Shore to the Mainland on the South." This practically 

 includes the whole of Loch Duich. 



Ewe. 



In the river Ewe, which flows out of Loch Maree, a good run of fish is 

 reported in the month of April, as many as five in a day having been taken. 

 It is clear that in this district a large number of fish must pass through the 

 river in the early part of each year, and also that they pass through Loch 

 Maree, which is twelve miles long, and, from the Kinlochewe River at the 

 head, ascend the Alt Ghairbhe into Lochs Clare and Coulin, since before 

 the month of May is out good sport is to be had in the head lochs. The 

 question of the relative benefits of having sport in the river Ewe or in the 

 head lochs seems therefore to arise for the consideration of the proprietor 

 of the salmon fishing rights. To those who greatly prefer the attractions 

 of river fishing, the beautiful series of pools and streams in the Ewe, in 

 spite of its short course, will always appear most inviting. There is the 

 capture of some 3000 sea trout in summer, but the total catch of salmon 

 in the river remains extraordinarily small under present conditions. 



Ailort. 



I referred in my last Annual Report to the proposal which came up as 

 far back as 1911 to erect a dam dyke at the outlet of Loch Eilt, so as to 

 control the water supply to the river Ailort and create floods at will. 

 The work was commenced in 1913, and brought near to completion, when 

 a high flood almost destroyed the structure. For fully a year the wrecked 

 wall was allowed to remain as the flood left it. Last summer, however, 

 I noticed the structure rebuilt and completed. It is not quite in the form 



