of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



109 



Salmon. Grilse. 



1838 546 7074 



1840 1007 5415 



1842 705 6482 



1843 1042 4398* 



It is alleged that the lade which supplies Tongueland Mills is not 

 wrought in compliance with the terms of the bye -law (Schedule G), 

 especially that part of it which provides that all water not required for 

 the mills shall be made to flow over the dam as freely as possible ; 

 and it is asserted that ' the flour-mill lade at Tongueland runs 

 1 full stream night and day, Sunday and Saturday.' On the other 

 hand, it appears that in July last, the District Board made a careful 

 examination, and found all the intakes properly hecked, and all the 

 wheels, also all the tail-races, except the tail-race of the corn mill, 

 and this the Board instructed the clerk to get fitted up in its former 

 position, a little further down the lade. 



When at Tongueland, I saw a number of grilse lying in the fish- 

 house, and as the grilse in the Dee run large, I had three of the 

 biggest taken up and weighed, and their united weight was 29^ 

 lbs., or an average of nearly 10 lbs. each. In the second last week 

 of July 1883, the average weight of the grilse caught at Tongueland 

 was 8£ lbs. 



Sweep Nets on the Bee. 



The lower part of the Dee is severely fished by net and coble. 

 There are seven cobles, and the nets are long and deep, like 

 those on the Tay, and are worked by means of a windlass fixed 

 on shore. They take in the whole breadth of the river at each 

 sweep, and overlap one another from the opposite sides, so as to 

 prevent any fish from passing. It was stated to me by a gentleman 

 well acquainted with the Dee fishings that the boat taking out the 

 net is often allowed to hang on for five minutes. The oars are kept 

 moving, in order to counteract the action of the flowing tide and 

 keep the boat in its place, and when the boat is turned towards the 

 bank, the rope, which is generally attached to the foot of the man 

 in the boat, is let go at the proper time, by a movement of the foot. 

 If this statement be correct, it is quite obvious that, while the boat 

 remains stationary, the net forms a complete barrier to the passage 

 of fish, and is used contrary to the rule laid down by Lord 

 Westbury, in the case of Hay v. Magistrates of Perth, May 1863, 

 namely, that ' the net must not quit the hand, and the net must be 

 1 in motion during the operation of fishing.' This adds another to the 

 many instances of over-fishing on our Scotch rivers by sweep-nets, 

 and shows the necessity for some such limitation and restriction in 

 the mode of working these nets as that suggested on pages 57 and 58 

 of my Eeport on the Salmon Eivers on the East Coast of Scotland. 

 There is such a limitation in the English Salmon Fisheries Act of 



* With reference to the above figures, taken from John Richardson's shoulder-net 

 book, it should be mentioned that the proprietor of the Doachs denies their accuracy, 

 and maintains that these fish were not all taken by Richardson alone, other persons 

 having a share in the capture, and other kinds of nets being used as well as the 

 shoulder-net. 



