34 



Appendices to Seventh Annual Report 



and of the numerous chain of lochs connected with it. But there are 

 falls upon it which at present prevent the ascent of salmon to Loch Skina- 

 skink, which is nearly as large as Loch Leven in Fife, and to eight other 

 lochs. No experiment in opening up obstructions would pay better than 

 this. The falls, though a serious barrier, are by no means insurmount- 

 able. They are somewhat over 20 feet high. On the left bank, the rock 

 projects over the stream, rather overhanging its base ; on the right it 

 falls slightly back. T think a subsidiary dam, 4 or 4J feet high, should 

 be made about 40 yards below the main fall, where the stream is narrow- 

 est, and the top of the fall should be blasted extensively and carried 

 back. The whole fall, when I inspected it — and the river was at its 

 lowest— was white water and totally inaccessible for salmon or sea-trout. 



Over-fishing in Scotch Lochs. — In the course of the inspection above 

 narrated, I was much struck with the almost total absence of any 

 attempts to counteract, by an improved system of fish-culture, the 

 immense destruction of trout caused, during several months of every 

 summer and autumn, by the shoals of anglers brought by rail, steamer, 

 and coach from every part of the United Kingdom to such fishing centres 

 as Loch Awe, Loch Shin, Tongue, Inchnadamph, and many other places 

 that might be mentioned. There is no restriction on these anglers either 

 as to the number or the size of the trout they kill ; no attempt to estab- 

 lish and maintain hatcheries ; no endeavours to get the anglers to sub- 

 scribe to a fish-culture fund. Every effort of skill is exerted to destroy ; 

 while scarcely anything is done to restore and restock the exhausted 

 waters. I have fished most of these lochs before the days of railways, 

 and I know that the trout were then twice as numerous as at present, 

 and, on an average, considerably larger. But there was not one angler 

 then for twenty that there are now. The fixing of a gauge under which 

 no trout should be basketed and the establishment of a hatchery on a 

 tolerably extensive scale at the chief fishing centres seems to me impera- 

 tively called for in order to prevent the depletion or impoverishment of 

 our lochs. W e have fixed by law a gauge under which no crab or lobster 

 may be taken ; why not fix a similar gauge for trout 1 It is shameful to 

 see, especially on an unfavourable day, when the fish are taking badly, 

 small trout, not the length of one's hand, consigned to the basket 

 instead of returned to the loch, because it has taken so much trouble to 

 catch them. 



In Loch Awe, probably from 10,000 to 12,000 trout are annually cap- 

 tured by the anglers from the half-dozen hotels on its banks ; and such 

 an immense annual destruction would inevitably depreciate the fishing 

 even in a sheet of water so extensive as Loch Awe. But, fortunately, 

 there is an Awe District Fishery Improvement Association which has 

 been doing good service in striving to counteract the effects of such severe 

 and protracted fishing by killing down the pike and stocking the loch 

 with trout. It is satisfactory to know, not only that its efforts have 

 been attended with a gratifying measure of success, but also that its 

 funds are at present in a flourishing condition. From August 17, 1887, 

 to December 5, 1888, it has destroyed 638 pike, and has distributed 

 00,000 Loch Leven fry from Howietoun. 



A similar Association is much needed at Loch Shin, with its two con- 

 siderable hotels at Lairg and Overskaig. The fishing is not what it used 

 to be, and steps would require to be taken to counteract the annual 

 drain upon the fish in the loch. Tongue also, on the north coast of 

 Sutherland, is another place of the same description. How much may 

 be done by thorough protection and artificial stocking on a large scale, is 

 admirably exemplified in the case of Loch Leven in Fife, from which 



