of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



75 



although the early laws on the subject have been held to be in disuetude, 

 seems to become a question worthy the attention of certain District 

 Boards, in spite of the fact that the rights of cruive fishing were held 

 at the time of the passing of the 1862 Act {vide sec. 6) and are held 

 under Royal Grant or Charter. The question of disuetude seems to me 

 to be somewhat effected by the presence of the Inverawe cruive, more 

 especially since I am given to understand the construction of the dyke 

 has not been materially altered since ancient times. The minimum 

 requirement for the width of the " mid-stream " seems to have been 

 reached in the reign of Charles II., when it was ordained "that five foot 

 of the middle stream must be constantly free." The dykes at Inverawe 

 project into the river from one bank only, and although the total length 

 is more than the breadth of the river the left half of the river is left 

 untouched. * 



The free passage is therefore greatly in excess of the minimum as set 

 down in the time of Charles II. Through the kindness of A. G. H. 

 Campbell, Esq. of Dunstaffnage, I am able to state that the Inverawe 

 cruive dates as far back as 1480 at least — the reign of James III. — and 

 that the dykes have never been modified since the date mentioned, the 

 only change having taken place in 1839, when an iron heck on the cruive 

 box was substituted for the wooden structures previously in use. Sub- 

 joined is a sketch plan of the river and cruive dykes at Inverawe made 

 at the time of my visit in May of last year. 



The cruive box measures 10ft. lOin. across, is 9ft. from its up-stream 

 to its down-stream frames, and is 7ft. 6in. high at the heck. The 

 gradient from the heck to the lower pool between the dykes is 

 steep. The main current, as indicated by the arrow at R, passes 

 between the fisher's croy or cairn on the left bank and the cruive 

 dykes. A considerable current, however, passes through the cruive 

 at C, and forms a good lead for fish at the lower end of the dyke, 

 which stands in the middle of the river. The water which passes the 

 cruive by the right bank descends to the main river below the dykes, 

 when the river is high, by a slap marked S. It will therefore be seen 

 that not only is the main current allowed to pass the cruive at Inverawe, 

 but one of the dykes is provided with a slap. At a cruive such as that 

 of Dupplin, on the Earn, the main current is caused to pass through the 

 cruive box and no slap is provided in the dyke. At Craigforth, also, a 

 structure which in all probability should long since have been cleared 

 away, as indicated in my last year's report, although much water 

 descends over the natural ledge of rock and the built structure of the 

 dyke, the main lead for the fish is through the cruive box. In all cases 

 some natural formation of the river is taken advantage of to increase the 

 catching power of the cruives, but my purpose is here to show that 

 at Inverawe there still exists a free passage or mid stream by which 

 the ascent of fish to the upper waters is always possible, and that in this 

 instance we still seem to have the old requirements fulfilled, so that the 

 cruive does not act as an insuperable barrier to the proper distribution 

 of salmon in the river. The enforcing of the mid-stream in olden days 

 was, without doubt, a provision for the benefit of others to whom right 

 of salmon fishing had been granted. 'Nowadays salmon fishing is 

 infinitely more valuable, and therefore a monopoly acquired by an 

 individual through the possession of a cruive would seem still more to 

 require its compensating condition. 



