4 Appendices to Eighteenth Annual Report 



Nairn, the Ythan, and the Nith are respectively £1341, £993, and £633. 

 When the beauty of the Nith as a salmon river is realised this circum- 

 stance seems the more unfortunate. 



The various dam dykes having been reported upon in the Sixteenth 

 Report on Salmon Fisheries, p. 9, I propose in the present instance to 

 consider the question of the improvement of the salmon fisheries of the 

 Nith district under three general heads : — 



(a) The difficulty of securing the entrance to fresh water of a 

 sufficient number of fish, owing to the great amount of netting 

 by fixed engine at the mouth of the river. 

 (6) The clifiiculty of securing the ascent of fish owing to polluted 



water, more especially in the neighbourhood of Dumfries, 

 (c) The lack of facilities for the proper distribution of fish to the 

 spawning grounds. 



(a) The Difficulty of Securing the Entrance to Fresh Water of a 

 Sufficient Number of Fish, owing to the Great Amount of 

 Netting by Fixed Engine at the Mouth of the River. 



The three Solway Salmon Fisheries Commissioners, who were given 

 extensive powers by the Act of 1877, decided on the legality or illegality 

 of each fixed engine in the Solway, and granted certificates of privilege 

 and orders of abatement or removal. 



Reference to the list of fixed engines prepared by the Commissioners 

 shows that in Dumfriesshire 20 paidle nets erected between the mouths 

 of the Nith and Annan, on the property of Mr. Mackenzie of Newbie, 

 declared to be for the purpose of taking white fish according to public 

 right, were proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to be erected 

 for the purpose of taking salmon, and were ordered to be removed. 

 Other 20 paidle nets on the property of Lord Herries, at the mouth of 

 the Nith, had been erected with the leave of the proprietor, but claimed 

 no certificates of privilege. These nets are constructed so as almost 

 exactly to resemble salmon bag nets or stake nets, but are of smaller 

 size, and have, though not invariably, the addition of the " paidle " or 

 cylindrical trap attached to the rectangular pocket. 



By the 33rd section of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1862, 

 the shores of the Solway Firth situate in Scotland are exempt from the 

 provisions of the Act ; and the English Salmon Fishery Act, 1861 (24 

 and 25 Vict., c. 109), in so far as it relates to the use of fixed engines 

 for the taking of salmon, is substituted. 



Section 11 of the English Act referred to enacts that "no fixed 

 engine of any description shall be placed or used for catching salmon in 

 any inland or tidal waters ; and any engine placed or used in contra- 

 vention of this section may be taken possession of and destroyed ; . . 

 . . . but this section shall not affect any ancient right or mode of 

 fishing, as lawfully exercised at the time of the passing of this Act, by 

 any person by virtue of any grant or charter or immemorial usage, pro- 

 vided always that nothing in this section contained shall be deemed to 

 apply to fishing weirs or fishing mill dams." 



In certain localities it seems perfectly admissible for a member of the 

 public to fish for white fish by means of stake nets or other fixed engines, 

 and much litigation has arisen as to fishing in this way with intent to 

 catch salmon, or so as to injure salmon fishings of a private nature. A 

 case of note is that of the Duke of Buccleuch v. Kean, 30th May 1890 

 (17 R. 829), in which interdict was sought against such method of 

 fishing. Referring to this case, Stewart (Law of Fishing, p. 365) says:— 

 " It was proved that the defender's nets, though alleged to be intended 



