of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



115 



' 1877/ respecting the fixed engines in the Solway, a reference to the 

 State, giving the result of their proceedings, which forms Appendix 

 L to this fteporb, will show that, in Dumfriesshire, they have 

 ordered the removal of 4 stake, fly, or bag nets, with 17 

 pockets, and have granted certificates of privilege to 34 with 126 

 pockets ; that in Kirkcudbrightshire they have ordered the re- 

 moval of 28 stake, fly, or bag nets, with 40 pockets, and have 

 granted certificates of privilege to 31 with 62 pockets ; and that, 

 in Wigtownshire, they have ordered the removal of 44 such nets, 

 and have granted certificates of privilege to only 15. That is to 

 say, in Dumfriesshire they have ordered about an eighth of the fixed 

 nets to be abated or removed, and have granted certificates of 

 privilege to the remaining seven-eighths. In Kirkcudbrightshire 

 they have directed nearly a half to be removed, and have granted 

 certificates of privilege to rather more than a half. While, in 

 Wigtownshire, they have ordered no less than three-fourths of the 

 stake, fly, or bag nets to be removed, and have granted certificates 

 of privilege to only a fourth. Or, taking the whole three Scotch 

 counties that are washed by the waters of the Solway Firth, it will 

 be found that the Commissioners have ordered 76 stake, fly, or 

 bag nets to be removed, and have granted certificates of privilege 

 to 80. 



Annual Close Time for Solway Rivers. 

 In the note of points suggested by Mr Buckland and myself in 

 1870 for the consideration of the Annan Fishery Board, and 

 answers thereto by the Board, which is printed on pages 89 and 90 

 of the Appendix to our Eeport of 1871, the Annan Board give 

 the following answer to the question whether there should be the 

 same annual close time for all the rivers on the Scotch side of the 

 Solway: — 'There should be one close time for all the Solway rivers. 

 ' While one of them is closed and another open, fish taken in the 

 ' former can be sold as having been taken in the latter.' I am 

 inclined to agree entirely with this suggestion of the Annan 

 District Board. At present, the annual close time for the Annan, 

 Mth, Urr, Fleet, and Luce is from 10th September to 24th 

 February, with extension of time for rod-fishing to 31st October ; 

 while that of the Dee, Cree, and Bladenoch is from 27th August to 

 10th February, with extension of time for rod-fishing to 31st Oc 

 tober. I venture to think that it would be an advantage .to the 

 salmon fishing on the Scotch shore of the Solway generally if the 

 annual close time of the Dee, Cree, and Bladenoch were assimilated 

 to that of the Annan, Mth, Urr, Fleet, and Luce. 



II. THE SOLWAY QUESTION. 



The discovery of a fair and adequate solution of the Solway 

 question is one of the most important, as well as one of the most 

 difficult and complicated, problems to be dealt with in connection 

 with Salmon Fishery law and legislation. The various legislative 

 attempts that have been made to set the question at rest, and to 

 reconcile conflicting interests, have hitherto failed ; and it seems 

 not unlikely to prove the chief difficulty and the principal source 

 of debate in any future enactment. 



