52 



Appendices to Eighteenth Annual Report 



of reducing to a certain extent the previously disgusting state of pollution 

 upon this stream. There is yet, however, much fungoid and distillery pollu- 

 tion visible on Fiddich, although somewhat reduced through the above cause. 



The spawning upon the fords of the River Spey was scarcely up to the 

 appearance of the previous year, but, on the other hand, long-continued high 

 and brown- coloured water made it very difficult to see fish upon the redds 

 during the time the fish were spawning. 



Notes by the bailiffs, same as last two years, by order of the Board, were kept, 

 giving the number (as far as could be seen) of spawning beds counted on river 

 Spey in that part of the river lying between Boat o' Brig and Carron Bridge. 

 The bailiffs' respective records for above were as follows : — On Aberlour beat, 

 Carron Bridge to Tunnel Pool, 70 beds ; Craigellachie beat, Tunnel Pool to 

 Bulwark, 124 beds ; Rothes beat, Bulwark to Holly bush, 394 beds ; Boat o' 

 Brig beat, Holly bush to Boat o' Brig, 173 beds ; and Mulben Burn mouth, 

 36 beds — total, 797 spawning beds, being a decrease of 51 beds when compared 

 with previous year. The three years' records in beds for this district are as 

 follows :— Year 1896, 1263 beds ; 1897, 848 beds ; and 1898, 797 beds. 



Upon 5th and 6th December a pretty heavy spate took place ivpon the river 

 and tributaries, and there is little doubt but that some of the spawning beds 

 were levelled down and deposited ova washed away or disturbed. There was 

 no injury caused to spawning beds by frost or iceflows during the season. 

 Male and female fish were to all appearance evenly matched while on the 

 spawning redds. 



II. — Smolt Season. 



Descending smolts during the spring and summer months had a fair average 

 show. Eight bailiffs carried out the usual six weeks' smolt and salmon fry 

 protection duty from 1st May till 10th June. The bailiffs were stationed as 

 follows : —One in Speymouth district, one at Rothes, one at Dufftown, one at 

 Aberlour, one on Upper Avon and Livet, one at Ballindalloch, one at 

 Grantown, and one at Duthil, Twenty-six dozen of printed notices cautioning 

 persons against killing smolts, parr, or salmon fry were posted up along the 

 sides of the river and tributaries all over the district. All anglers met with 

 by the bailiffs were found agreeable and willing when asked to show their 

 respective " takes " for inspection. A force of bailiffs again went on duty at 

 1st of August to protect parr or salmon fry. 



III. — Disease among Fish. 



The following particulars relate to the amount of disease observed among 

 spawning fish within the district during the spawning season. These observa- 

 tions hare been now tabulated in my annual reports during the last eleven 

 years, as taken from particular observance carried out upon the Fiddich. In 

 giving the death-rate as so much per cent., the percentage is one dead fish for 

 each spawning bed counted upon the stream during the season. Consequently, 

 as it requires two fish to form a bed, the death percentage given herein is 

 twice that of what the percentage would be were each dead counted against 

 each living. The number of spawning beds counted upon Fiddich during the 

 past season was 463, and the number of dead or dying fish removed from the 

 stream and buried by the bailiffs was 33, giving a death-rate of something 

 under 8 per cent, to the number of spawning beds counted. The death per- 

 centages for the previous years were as follows : — 1898, 17 per cent.; 1897, 7 

 per cent.; 1896, 21 per cent.; 1895, 9 per cent.; 1894, 8 per cent.; 1893, 

 19 per cent. ; 1892, 16 per cent. ; 1891, 18 per cent. ; 1890, 13 per cent. ; and 

 1889, 13 per cent. The order of death-rate was pretty general all through 

 the spawning season during the past season, the first deaths being upon 8th 

 October 1898, these being two male and three female sea-trout and one female 

 grilse, all unspawned and evidently poisoned by the then excessively polluted 

 state of the stream. The last diseased fish was removed from same stream on 

 28th January 1899. With the exception of the above-mentioned six fish, 

 mostly all of the others were spawned, and were composed as follows : — Sea- 

 trout, 1 male and 1 female ; grilse, 8 males ; salmon, 16 males and 1 female. 



