of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xi 



We also give a table which 'shows four quin(|iiennial averages 

 since the year 1894, and the three last individual years. 





Average, 





Average, 





Average, 





Average, 







1894 to 1898. 



189( 



to 1903. 



1904 to 1908. 



1909 to 1913. 



District. 





































Tons. 



1 



o 





Lbs, 



Tons. 



Cwts 



t 

 O' 



1 Lbs 



Tons. 



1 Cwts 



1 Qrs. 



1 Lbs 



Tons. 



Cwts 



£ 



1 Lbs 



aBerwick to 



































Cairnbulg Point, 



1,206 



18 



1 



1 



839 



1 



2 



9 



887 



8 



2 



24 



1,015 



5 



3 



18 



































to Cape Wrath, 



900 



17 



3 



6 



737 



10 



3 



17 



608 



13 



1 



19 





14 





3 



c Cape Wrath to 



































Glasgow, . 



40a 



7 



1 



21 



274 



18 



1 



27 



209 



3 



3 



6 





2 





7 



d Glasgow to the 



































Border, 



260 



3 



2 



6 



183 



6 



1 



19 



160 



9 



3 



15 



III 



13 



1 

 I 



3 



Totals, . . . 



2,771 



~ 





6 



2,034 



17 



1 



16 



1,865 



15 





8 



2,056 



IE 



1 



3 





Year 1914. 



Year 1915. 



Year 1916. 











District. 





































Tons. 



Cwts 



Qrs. 



Lbs. 



Tons. 



f 



O 



& 



Lbs 



Tons. 



Cwts 



t.1 



Lbs 











aBerwick to 



































Cairnbulg Point, 



1,030 



14 



1 



7 



847 



9 



0 



25 



701 



2 



3 













6 Cairnbulg Point 

































to Cape Wrath, 



710 



1 



3 



20 



575 



8 



1 



24 



397 



19 



2 



22 











c Cape Wrath to 



































Glasgow, . . . 



161 



6 



3 



8 



198 



17 



3 



10 



96 



3 



3 



25 











d Glasgow to the 



































Border, . . . 



74 



2 







86 



12 







77 



14 















Totals, . . . 



1,976 



5 





7 



1,708 



7 



2 



3 



1,273 





1 



26 











Very considerable difficulty has been experienced in obtaining 

 the necessary men to work many of the bag net stations, and in 

 certain localities fewer nets have been fished, but this does not seem 

 to be sufficient to account for the decline referred to. A point of 

 some importance appears to be the falling away of the grilse or fish 

 which have spent only one year in the sea since leaving the rivers 

 as smolts. We are unable to say what this grilse decrease amounts 

 to since no separation between salmon and grilse is made by the 

 railways, and also because returns giving weight alone do not 

 sufficiently indicate a decline in the case of these light fish. The 

 ratio between grilse and salmon, in the catch of modern times, is 

 very different from the ratio shown in the old records which exist 

 in certain districts. It has been pointed out by the Inspector 

 that in the early part of last century the grilse taken at Berwick- 

 upon-Tweed alone was not infrequently a hundred times greater than 

 the present-day catch for the whole of Scotland, and that in a period 

 of twenty years, when normal fluctuations would be included, the 

 catch never fell below a figure thirty times as great as the present- 

 day catch for the whole of Scotland. 



It is to these young fish that we must look for the future stock 

 to a very considerable extent. An individual poor year of grilse may 

 be succeeded by a good year in small spring fish, thus showing that 

 a larger proportion of grilse than usual merely remained in the off- 

 shore feeding areas instead of coming in to the coast and entering 

 our rivers ; but even allowing for this, and admitting also that the 

 salmon fisheries are better regulated than they ever were, the 



