of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



33 



Fisheries, a report on the decline of the salmon fisheries of the district 

 This is published in the Third Annual Report (1884), p. 136. From 

 Mr. Darroch's statement, as from the evidence of many witnesses he 

 cites, it appears that since the introduction of bag-net fishing to the 

 district in 1838, at which time fish are reported as having been in 

 abundance, a steady decline has continued. 



I visited several of the bag-netting stations in this district and in 

 Skye, and had an opportunity of seeing from time to time the catches 

 obtained. My best thanks are due to C. H. Akroyd, Esq., without 

 whose aid I should have found it impossible to have reached so many 

 inaccessible points of coast. The tacksmen seemed to be suffering from 

 a worse season than they had ever experienced, and were therefore 

 increasing the number of their nets. This may be a perfectly natural 

 method for the tacksman, but it does not seem likely to have a good 

 effect upon the fishings in general. I found, further, that the great 

 majority of the fish taken in this neighbourhood are grilse. The fishery 

 might indeed be described as a grilse fishery, sea trout being added in 

 the earlier part of the season, and salmon proper towards the end of 

 the season. This may in itself have a marked significance when we 

 consider the absence of salmon in the rivers. The direction in which 

 these grilse travel becomes a point of considerable interest also, and 

 may, I hope, be to some extent explained by future marking of fish in 

 the neighbourhood. At present the positions of the netting stations, 

 and the absence of all nets at particular parts of the coast, form a 

 slight if somewhat uncertain guide to the directions from which grilse 

 and salmon approach the various rivers of the neighbourhood. I hope 

 in a subsequent report to be able to deal at greater length with this 

 matter. The capture of so few fish in such a river as Torridon need not 

 necessarily imply that fish were equally scarce after the close of the 

 rod-fishing season ; indeed, in view of the continued fishing by means 

 of bag-nets, it seems necessary to believe that the stock is almost entirely 

 maintained in these districts by virtue of the close season permitting 

 late fish to enter the rivers and reproduce their species. But such a 

 condition is manifestly of no value to those who hold rights of salmon 

 fishing in the rivers, and is perhaps with equal certainty to the dis- 

 advantage of the general interests of the fisheries. 



