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Appendices to Seventh Annual Report 



one of the earliest salmon rivers in Scotland. One member of the District 

 Board, who has had great experience of salmon fishings, thinks that the 

 angling season should be from the 18th January to the 1st October, 

 instead of, as at present, from 11th February to 15th October. Another 

 gentleman, also of great experience, is of opinion that the netting season 

 should extend from the 27th June to the 10th December, instead of, as at 

 present, from 11th February to 27th August. 



As to the fishing in the Nairn district, I was told by the super- 

 intendent of the Ness fishings that the value of the net fishings, on 

 either side of the mouth of the Nairn, has greatly increased since the 

 proprietors on the Nairn bought up and demolished the dam near the 

 mouth of the river, which used to be a terrible barrier in the way of 

 ascending fish ; the increase in the capture by these fixed nets arising 

 from the greatly augmented number of spawning fish. 



With regard to the estuary line for the Ness and Beauly, fixed in 

 1865 by the Commissioners of Scotch Salmon Fisheries, under the powers 

 conferred by ' The Salmon Fisheries (Scotland), October 1862/ I still 

 continue of the opinion, which I have formerly expressed, that it ought to 

 be altered and amended. It is far too large an estuary, being ' a straight 

 ' line drawn due south-east, true meridian, from the centre of the three 

 c burns to the southern shore, thus cutting the Black Buoy as at present 

 * placed on the north end of the Whiten Ness Sands.' This line, as will 

 be seen at once by any one who takes the trouble to consult the map, is 

 outside Chanonry Point and Fort George — the natural Fauces Terras — and 

 is actually twenty-four miles below the mouth of the Beauly and nearly 

 twelve miles below the mouth of the Ness ; and it inflicted a great injustice 

 and a heavy loss (£500 a year) on the proprietor of the stake and bag nets 

 at Chanonry Point, for which he never received any compensation. I may 

 mention that the Ness District Board are of opinion that the estuary of 

 the Ness and Beauly is too far extended and that it ought to be amended 

 and abridged, and some of the members think that the line should be from 

 Munlochy Point on the north to Altarlie Point on the south. This line 

 is about seven miles within the present estuary line and is rather more 

 than three miles below Kessock Ferry. After a careful examination of 

 the localities, I am of opinion that it would be a fair and equitable 

 estuary line for the rivers Beauly and Ness.* 



So far back as 1870, this estuary line question was carefully examined 

 and considered by the late Mr Frank Buckland and myself ; and on page 26 

 of our Report of 1871 on the effects of recent legislation on the salmon 

 fisheries in Scotland, we write as follows : — 



As regards the question of the re-adjustment of the boundaries between 

 river and sea, the evidence laid before us and our own personal investigations 

 lead us to conclude that it is advisable that the Secretary of State should be 

 empowered, after due inquiry, to alter the existing estuary lines, on the appli- 

 cation of a District Board ; or in those districts where no District Board exists, 

 on the application of two proprietors of salmon fishings ; or on the applica- 

 tion of a single salmon fishery proprietor, where there is only one proprietor 

 in any district. We are also of opinion that the Secretary of State should 

 have power, under the same conditions, to re-adjust the boundaries between 

 sea and river, in the case of rivers which have no estuary, but fall directly 

 into the sea. 



The bye-laws of the Commissioners, drawn up under the powers con- 

 ferred by the Salmon Fishery Act of 1862, which fix fishery districts, 

 estuaries, annual and weekly close-times, and regulate the use of movable 

 and fixed nets, cruives, mills and mill dams, water-wheels, lades, 



* See Note II. for a sketch map of the present estuary Hue of the Rivers Ness and 

 Beauly and also of the proposed estuary line from Munlochy Bay to Altarlie Point. 



