of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 64 



alarmed, and are proposing to take drastic action in closing fisheries so 

 that the stock may once more have an opportunity to reach its former 

 high level. The amount of fishing in this instance has been enormous, 

 as the stock was vast. From one to two milHon cases of canned salmon 

 were packed in British Columbia and Washington State. Each fourth 

 year brought " the big run." 1917 was a fourth year, and the pack was 

 only 448,000 cases. In recent lean years the pack has fallen as low as 

 116,000 cases, and every one is agreed that the great Fraser River is over- 

 fished. Many large hatcheries in the district have for years been handling 

 ten to twelve million ova apiece, but this has been powerless to stop the 

 decline. Now the authorities cannot get a sufficient quantity of fish in - 

 some of the tributaries to stock some of their hatcheries. This has been 

 an example of a rapid dechne. The drain upon even this immense stock 

 has been too great, and it is fairly safe to prophesy that resuscitation 

 will be slow, uphill work. I venture to mention the Fraser River as an 

 illustration on a large scale of what has for long years been slowly going 

 on in Scotland. The difference is only one of degree. When one is asked 

 why the long years of dechne in Scotland have been allowed to continue, 

 there is no answer except to explain that for over fifty years we have had 

 no salmon fishery legislation. The causes of dechne are well known, and 

 the remedies are not unduly difficult except in the combating of pollution. 

 Those who have interests which run counter to those of the fisheries are 

 already proclaiming that the latter are comparatively unimportant, or 

 that they are largely private property and can . therefore be sacrificed 

 without loss to the nation. But netting rights and sporting rights are 

 indissolubly connected. The one rises or falls with the other, and those 

 who care only for the commercial results should not forget that the fish 

 are all bred for them in^the sporting waters, and that the protection of 

 the districts is entirely borne by those who own the rights of fishing. 



With regard to netting, it appears that the policy recommended by 

 the Board, by which the sea should be regarded as the chief place for the 

 net and the river for the rod and for breeding the fish, need in no way 

 be departed from. Comparatively few rivers in Scotland are now over- 

 netted. In these the saying is still apphcable, that if we want to catch 

 more fish we must fish less, but in others it is still necessary to secure con- 

 ditions by^which Nature will be able to produce a greater stock, otherwise 

 some curtailment of even the sea netting will b ^ necessary. 



Pollutions, abstraction of water, and obstructions (under the two last 

 headings it is now necessary to include considerations arising out of the 

 creation of electric power) have to be set against the continuance of the 

 present state of our salmon fisheries. 



Value op Salmon Fisheries. 



May I glance for a moment at the value of the salmon fisheries, so far 

 as these can be approximately estimated. The annual value in rentals, 

 on a pre-war footing (1914) is not overstated as £150,000, if a careful 

 examination of all available information is made, and the equivalent of 

 the marketed fish, taking the last season's total, and the average price 

 at 3s. per lb., was the sum of £606,000. I venture to think, therefore, 

 that when the argument that they are comparatively unimportant, is 

 used against doing anything to support the salmon fisheries, it is based 

 on a lack of knowledge. 



Pollutions. 



I dealt, in my last annual report, on the difficult subject of Pollution 

 (p. 81, et seq.), setting forth the classification of trade wastes adopted by 



